Nozomi no Kuroi Rozu: The Black Rose of Hope
by Yukihana Hisako
Summary: Disillusioned by Nagato's words, Uzumaki Akarui abandons Konohagakure to carry out the dream of her sensei and fellow student. She will bring peace to the Elemental Nations or die trying. Fem!Naru. AU.
1. Peace

ElwynWanderer helped me redo this chapter. She's my beta now! *glomps Elwyn*

Thanks to

Disclaimer: If I was Kishimoto-sensei, this would be canon.

Glossary

Akarui: Hopeful

Amegakure: Hidden in the Rain, short for Village Hidden in the Rain

Hitai-ate: Forehead Protector

Nukenin: Missing-nin

Peace

Akarui closed her eyes as she thought about Nagato's words. Even if he was Jiraiya-sensei's killer and she was just barely restraining herself from killing him, and there wasn't really anything stopping her – the blue haired kunoichi beside him (What was her name again? Konan?) didn't seem to be particularly strong and all of the bodies he had controlled were destroyed – the man's words made sense in a frightening way. Was he right? Was peace through compassion truly impossible? It was only now that Konoha's hypocrisy struck her. The shinobi of the Leaf all wanted peace, yet they fought and killed as much as any village with no regard for the people weaker than them. Blood was spilt carelessly as long as said blood didn't belong to anybody important. The shinobi villages were caught up in an endless cycle of hate, betrayal, war, and ultimately death; a cycle with no end in sight. That much was apparent from Nagato's childhood in Amegakure.

Akarui withdrew a book from her jacket, but still didn't look up. _'The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja, eh? Jiraiya-sensei…what should I do?_ _How…how do I bring peace to the people of the Shinobi Nations? If hatred is a cycle, and the villages are part of the cycle, how does one stop the cycle? How does one stop the villages? How can you loyal to a village you will probably have to fight?'_

_"I believe the time will come when people can truly understand each other, but if I'm not there to do it, it'll be your job, Akarui!"_ Jiraiya had said once. Akarui's head buzzed in confusion.

"Just by living, people hurt others without realizing it. As long as people live, so too will hatred. There can be no peace in this land. What Jiraiya spoke of is nothing but fantasy," Nagato pointed out. "As a jinchuuriki, you must understand this better than most. You are hated by the village that you would give anything to protect. Do any of them really care for you, or do they just want to use the power of the Kyuubi for their own means? And now that you have heard my tale…I would like to hear your answer."

"That may be true. I think you're right," Akarui said quietly, still not meeting Nagato's eyes.

The kunoichi could imagine the Rinnegan-user's eyebrows rising. "…Really?"

"I understand you, but I still can't forgive you. I still hate you. But Jiraiya-sensei believed in me. So I will believe in what he believed in. Even if I must stop the cycle of hate with my own two hands, I'll do it. I won't kill you, so there! That's my answer!" Akarui declared, a stubborn fire burning in her eyes.

Nagato snorted and lifted his gaze to the ceiling of the paper tree Konan had built. "You will believe in what Jiraiya believed in? I see, so that's your answer. So should we just sit here and wait for you to bring peace to the world?" he asked bitterly. "Give me a break! How can I believe Jiraiya now, if I haven't been able to for so many years? There's no such thing as real peace as long as we live in this accursed world!"

"I will break the curse! If there's such a thing as peace, I'll find it. I won't give up!"

Nagato looked slightly shocked. "You…that's…"

"Nagato, what's wrong?" Konan asked worriedly.

The Rinnegan-user ignored the blue-haired kunoichi. "Those words…"

0o0o0o

_A much younger Nagato pushed aside a rice screen door, entering the room in which his sensei was eating ramen._

"_Shishou..?"_

"_Oh, hey Nagato."_

"_Can I talk to you for a minute?"_

"_Sure. I was trying to write a bit, but I'm fresh out of ideas."_

"_Y'know yesterday, when you were talking about this world's hatred? I thought about that a little…"_

"_Really?"_

"_Yeah...Peace…I don't know how to get there, but I believe I will. With Yahiko and Konan, I'll bring peace to the Shinobi Nations. I'll break the curse. If there's such a thing as peace, I'll find it! I won't give up!"_

_Jiraiya blinked at his student. "Thanks to you, I just got a really good idea for a story. Now, all I have to do is make names for the characters…."_

_A few years later, Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato entered their old hideout. The Rinnegan user was about to sit down when he saw a book resting unopened on the table. Its title read "The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja". Opening it, the red-haired shinobi began to read…_

0o0o0o0

Akarui nodded. "That's right. Those were lines from this book, the first book he ever wrote. He wrote this book to try and change the world. And in the back he says he was inspired by a student to write this. That was you, Nagato."

"What..? Is this just a coincidence?"

"And the name of the main character's sister, the one who dies to protect her brother, is Akarui! So my name is a precious memento of Jiraiya-sensei! Because the character he created believed in peace and her brother! She had faith! I won't give up on what we call 'peace'! I'll keep trying, no matter what, because my namesake would sacrifice anything for peace! I'll make sure there's hope for Amegakure, too!" Akarui declared. "Believe it!"

Nobody spoke for several minutes. Konan looked indecisive, as if she was unsure of what to believe now. Nagato was impassive as ever, but Akarui could tell he was reflecting on his way of life in the past.

"…We studied under the same master. Earlier, I said that we should be able to understand each other because of that…but I was joking then. You're an odd kid. You remind me of myself when I was younger."

"…Nagato…" the blue-haired kunoichi murmured. Her voice was laced with concern.

"I think…you may have the ability to stop the wars that torment this world. To stop the never ending pain caused by brutal fighting. The power of hatred is truly terrible; it can turn friend against friend…"

Akarui bowed her head, remembering her battle with Sasuke at the Valley of the End. "That I know from experience," she admitted. "My former teammate, Uchiha Sasuke, tried to kill me to gain the power to kill his brother. The Mangekyou Sharingan…"

"Aa, yes, the Uchiha brothers…They are the perfect example of what hatred can do to a person. A loyal Konoha shinobi turned that which he wished to kill…"

Akarui was silent, but she feared that what Nagato said was true. "I made a promise to my other teammate, a long time ago, that I would bring Sasuke back to Konoha. But is he really even the Sasuke we knew or just some emotionless killing machine?"

"That is something you will have to decide for yourself, Akarui…but there is one thing I can tell you, and that is that you are this world's hope. I'll pass on my dreams to you; mine and Jiraiya-sensei's. I couldn't believe in what Jiraiya believed in. Or…in the man himself. But I can see a different future in your eyes. I will believe in you, Uzumaki Akarui…" Nagato said as he formed his hands into a ramseal. _**"**__Gedo Rinne Tensei no Jutsu,_"

Akarui's eyes widened. _'What is he doing?'_ she wondered as a large pulse of chakra seemingly exploded from Nagato's body.

There was panic in Konan's movements as she moved towards her teammate. "Nagato, you-!"

The Rinnegan user shook his head slightly. "Konan, it's enough. I have a new choice now, a choice I'd given up on."

"What is this technique?" asked Akarui.

Konan looked down slightly before meeting the blonde's eyes and answering. "He who controls the Rinnegan is the master of all the Six Paths' powers. They say he is outside life and death. Nagato is the 7th Path, able to control life and death. If he uses this technique now, with these chakra levels…you truly are a strange child, to have changed Nagato so completely."

Suddenly, Akarui felt a huge burst of chakra reappear where there were none before. Closing her eyes to help her concentrate, the Uzumaki sorted through the chakras and tried to identify them. Lots of them felt vaguely familiar, but the blonde didn't recognize any of them until her senses touched a chakra that seemed white. _'Kakashi-sensei…'_ she thought, barely allowing herself to believe it. The man had been dead, she was sure of it. Her capabilities in chakra sensing didn't lie.

"How…?"

Nagato's face was covered in sweat, his eyes closed in concentration. The last of his chakra was being pushed into this technique, whatever it was.

"What's going on? What does that technique do?" Akarui asked, slightly panicked.

"The villagers are being revived," Konan replied. "I'm sure your sensing abilities are showing you the return of chakra to the area."

"There is still time to save those I killed when I came to Konoha. It's the least I can do," the red-haired shinobi explained.

Akarui's eyes widened as the full gravity of Nagato's technique struck her. "Nagato…you…"

"War…brings death…and wounds…and pain to both sides…" said Nagato, his voice soft with his impending demise, "especially those…who haven't known war…like your generation. You try and find meaning in death, but…there's only…pain…and hatred…that you don't know what do with…Dying like trash, never-ending pain that never heals…that…is war. Akarui…this is what you…must face. Heh. That book…and you…it's like somebody set this all up. Or maybe…this is the hand of the _real_ god…"

The tree collapsed. A beam of sunlight pierced the cloud of falling paper, falling upon Akarui's whiskered face. _'Nagato…thank you.'_

Konan smiled almost imperceptibly before commanding her paper to wrap around Nagato's body. When the blue-haired kunoichi was done, the Rinnegan user looked something like a wrapped mummy. The chakra-infused paper made the body float and follow the origami user. After that was done, Konan walked down the hill and returned to the edge of the giant crater Nagato's bodies had created earlier during their fight against the blonde jinchuuriki while Akarui followed wordlessly. Once Konan reached the God Realm's body, she began to wrap the body in paper as well.

"You're taking him too?" Akarui half asked, half observed.

"Yes. The body of the God Realm was made from Yahiko's corpse. He was very important to both of us…" Konan replied quietly.

The Uzumaki nodded. "What are you going to do now? I don't like to think you'd go back to Akatsuki."

The origami user shook her head. "I'm through with Akatsuki. Yahiko and Nagato were everything to me. So…what are you going to do?"

Akarui looked up into the sky and did not reply for several seconds. '_This world is full of pain and hate. Nagato…entrusted me with the duty to end that hate. But…can I really carry that out as a Konoha shinobi? I am tied to the will of my Hokage, and Baa-chan would never let me leave the village and travel as I need to. I must train and get stronger, but can I really do that in Konoha? But…if I leave Konoha and become a nukenin, I'll never be Hokage…' _

Akarui was torn between her ideals of peace and her dream of becoming Hokage.

Before Akarui could give her answer, Konan began to speak again. "Yahiko's dream and Nagato's dream…If they've entrusted their dreams to you, then you are there dreams. Nagato believed in you so I will believe in you too, no matter how you go about bringing peace. Amegakure will help you make that dream come true."

The blonde looked down, deciding how to phrase her response.

_"If I can't find the answer, it'll be up to you to do it," _Jiraiya had murmured.

_ "I will believe in you…Uzumaki Akarui," _declared Nagato

Jiraiya and Nagato's voices rang in her head.

"Peace…is elusive and fleeting. I…cannot find it while still in Konoha. To achieve peace…I need to shed my ties to Konoha…and travel and train, because sometimes the road to peace is littered with enemies and death. And there may come a time where I must come into conflict with Konoha. I cannot let my selfishness get in the way of the greater good. And even if I must sacrifice my dream, I will bring hope to the Shinobi Nations!" Akarui declared. "That's a promise!"

"I see…" Konan said softly. Paper shifted around her hand as the blue-haired kunoichi formed a black rose. "While its petals may be black, I believe this ever-blooming flower will be a symbol of hope for everybody. Wear it well."

A soft smile touched Akarui's lips as she accepted the rose and tucked it behind her left ear. _'Thank you…Konan…'_ she thought. "I will probably be visiting Amegakure soon. I look forward to seeing you again."

Konan smiled as well. "Me too. Until we meet again, Akarui."

The Uzumaki untied her hitai-ate and allowed it to clatter to the earthen ground before leaping up onto one of the slabs of earth forced up by her battle with Nagato's Six Paths. "I had better get going. The farther away from Konoha I am when they realize I've left the better."

The origami user nodded, disappearing in a swirl of paper. Akarui took off at a dead run and quickly disappeared into the forests surrounding Konoha.

The Uzumaki was suddenly glad that Katsuya had fallen off during her fight with Nagato. And for the scent-concealing seal Jiraiya-sensei had taught her three years ago, now that she thought about it.

0o0o0o0o

Hatake Kakashi landed in front of a large slab of earth with an almost indiscernible thump, raising small clouds of dust around his feet. _'That was pushed up with a large amount of force…Akarui, what did you get yourself in to?' _the jounin wondered.

His black eye caught the glint of metal in the early afternoon light. He frowned slightly underneath his mask before walking the few steps that it took to reach the as-of-yet unidentified metal.

It was a two-foot long piece of black cloth with a plate of metal attached to it; a plate of metal with the stylized leaf that was Konoha's symbol.

Kakashi's heart clenched painfully. There was only one shinobi that he knew of that wore a hitai-ate like that. Akarui. But she would never leave her hitai-ate behind, would she? It was probably her most prized possession. Had it been torn off in battle?

But no, the metal wasn't nicked or scratched. The cloth held no tears or rips. It looked exactly as it had when Kakashi had last seen the Uzumaki, a week earlier when she had gone off to train with the toads. And that…that left one alternative.

But it just didn't seem _possible. _Akarui, of all people, would not betray Konoha. There was just no freaking way. She was just too loyal to do something so absolutely stupid, right?

Right?

_'Where did I go wrong? First Sasuke, now Akarui…damn it. Damn it all.' _But that was incorrect; he knew exactly where he had gone wrong. It was when he had shown favoritism to the Uchiha that would eventually betray them all and almost completely ignored Akarui.

The Copy-nin's hand fisted around his former student's hitai-ate so hard that he could feel the metal edge digging into his gloved hand.

Full of regret, he returned to the remnants of Konoha.


	2. Future and Past

This chapter is almost double the length of the first one…*stares* I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written. Wait, no. That was the Search for Tsunade arc in Konoha no Gogyou Tokage – 15 pages long if I remember correctly. This one's twelve.

Thank you to ElwynWanderer, Prescripto13, darkalex08, First Lady Lestat, Hellcleaner, distantdreamer104, Ghille Dhu, naruchan84, and Guptanation for reviewing.

If you have any questions or suggestions, just click the review button! :)

Glossary

Sennin Modo: Sage Mode

Azami: Thistle Flower

Aa: Roughly translates to Ah, but has no real meaning

Imouto: Younger Sister

Konan: Literally "Little South"

Hi no Kuni: Land of Fire

Nukenin: Missing Ninja

Gama: Toad

Oinin: Hunter Ninja

Obaa-san: Grandmother/Old Woman

Jiji: Grandpa/Old Man

Ryo: The currency used in the Narutoverse. As far as I'm aware, it's about 10 ryo to 1 yen and 100 ryo to 1 American dollar. So 10,000 ryo is equal to about 100 American dollars.

Hekikuu: Azure Sky

Hai: Yes

Shodaime Hokage: First/Founding Fire Shadow

Fuuinjutsu: Sealing Techniques

Poky: For those of you who don't know, poky is an unsalted pretzel stick dipped in chocolate among other flavors. There's like two hundred different varieties.

Tonbogiri: Dragonfly Cutter

Future and Past

Slipping soundlessly through the trees like a ghost, Akarui fought of her exhaustion with a will of iron. She had underestimated the chakra drain from her battle with Nagato and all she really wanted to do at the moment was _sleep. _But first she had to get somewhere safe and buy some new clothes. Her orange jumpsuit was much too conspicuous. She did like the color a lot, but it wasn't worth risking her neck over.

She felt a faint buzz of chakra at the edge of her mind and was immediately thankful that she had kept her Sennin Modo on. The chakra sources were soft and pretty weak, so the village consisted of mostly or all civilians. Akarui masked her chakra so that her large reserves wouldn't be sensed by any particularly sensitive civilians and disabled her Sennin Modo. The blonde walked closer to the village, stopping just outside the large clearing in which it was situated. It had somewhere around a hundred houses that Akarui could see and twenty other buildings that were probably stores and restaurants. There was another building, however, that caught her eye. It was a large structure in the center of the village and could have functioned as the leader's lodgings and center of politics, something like the Hokage's Palace in Konoha. Akarui deemed the village safe and walked towards the medium-sized settlement. She prowled silently towards the center of the village, hoping to find a ramen bar and a tailor.

"Hey! You're not from around here!" a young girl's voice called from somewhere behind Akarui. Judging by the high-pitched cheerfulness of the voice, the girl was probably about eight years old. Turning around, the jinchuuriki saw a black-haired, purple-eyed girl that had her raven locks tied up in twin pigtails, one on either side of her head. The child wore a simple purple dress that accented her eyes. Another woman – probably her mother – accompanied her. The older female had prematurely white hair done up in a loose bun, kind brown eyes and smile creases around her eyes.

"Hey, hey, can I go talk t' the pretty lady?" the young girl asked cheerfully, tugging on the woman's skirt. A soft smile danced across Akarui's face at the simple innocence of the action.

The mother chuckled. "Go ahead. Just don't bother her too much, Azami."

But by then Azami had already raced towards Akarui and didn't hear the last part. Giggling happily, Azami reached up and attempted to grab a strand of the Uzumaki's shoulder-length vibrant yellow hair. Akarui grinned and leaned down so that she was at the child's level. Immeadiatly, the young child grabbed a handful of the jinchuuriki's hair and ran her chubby fingers through it.

"So pretty…your hair is so bright and gentle. Just like you," Azami said in the fractured pronunciation of childhood as she looked earnestly up into Akarui's face.

For a few seconds, Akarui was flummoxed. Somebody thought she was bright and gentle? On the Hokage's hat! The hate of Konoha's villagers had been passed on to their children! How-? _'Aa. I'm not in Konoha any more, am I? These people don't know of the Kyuubi. If this is how all of them will react to me, I should've left sooner,_' But still, the idea was laughable. Her, of all people, gentle? Soft? Bright? She was a shinobi, a cold-blooded killer, jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. 'But am I really?' The blonde asked herself. '_I never kill if I can get around it, and I gave up my dream of becoming Hokage for a better chance of creating peace…Maybe I really am those things that this girl says I am.'_

Finally, Akarui laughed. "Thank you, Imouto-chan. That means a lot to me."

Azami giggled again. "It's not a compliment, it's a fact."

The Uzumaki became aware that a crowd was gathering around her and the young girl. _'What's going on?'_ she wondered. "What do you mean, Imouto-chan?"

Azami's eyes took on a distant look, as if she was looking through Akarui and back towards Konoha. "No matter how hard the Tree strains, once a Leaf has fallen off, it will never return to the Tree," the girl said mysteriously. "The Winds of Change will blow it too far away."

Akarui's breathe quickened. How did this girl know she had defected from Konoha? She had only decided to leave the village a few hours ago herself. Konoha itself probably hadn't marked her as a nukenin yet! Yet the chances of this being a coincidence were extremely, extremely low. A soft "How..?" escaped her.

"My eyes see the strands of the future, past, and present. The future is an ever-changing thing, and much of it revolves around split-second decisions. Here, let me tell you a story…

"Sixteen years ago, the Eldest Uchiha unsealed the Ninth from the Red Habanero and forced it to attack the Tree. The Three-Pointed One fought the Eldest Uchiha but lost; he was forced to seal the Ninth within his and the Red Habenero's child to save the Tree.

"Seven years later, the Weasel was ordered to kill the Paper Fan, because the Paper Fan was planning a rebellion. The Old Monkey tried to negotiate with the Paper Fan, but all attempts at peace failed. The War Hawk ordered the Weasel to kill the Paper Fan so that the rebellion against the Tree would be extinguished. The Weasel followed his orders. He couldn't, however, kill the Avenger. In hopes of having the Avenger grow stronger, the Weasel told his brother to take revenge upon him. Years passed, and the Avenger grew more and more bitter. He was teamed up with the Cherry Blossom, the Hopeful One, and the Scarecrow."

Akarui listened to the child with growing amazement. Azami's words were starting to make sense in a twisted sort of way, but did Itachi really kill the Uchiha Clan under orders from Danzo?

"But then the White Snake came for and cursed the Avenger. The White Snake attacked the Tree with the Song and the Desert and killed his teacher, the Old Monkey. The Hopeful One defeated the Sleepless One. Then the Toad Sage brought the Hopeful One with him to bring the Slug Princess back to the Tree. They succeeded. However, the Avenger left for power, and the Butterfly, the Caged Bird, the Dog, the Deer, and the Hopeful One followed. They each fought a Tune. But the Green Beast came and helped the Hopeful One, so the Hopeful One left to chase after the Avenger. Their battles were hard. The Butterfly and the Caged Bird won but almost died. The Puppeteer helped the Dog; the Folding Fan helped the Deer while the Sleepless One helped the Green Beast. Together, they defeated their opponents.

"Meanwhile, the Hopeful One fought the Avenger. She unleashed the Ninth while the Avenger released his Curse. They clashed in an explosion of red and black. In the end, the Avenger won and left the Tree for the power to kill the Weasel.

"The Hopeful One returned to the Tree and left to train with the Toad Sage for two and a half years. When she returned, she had to rescue the Sleepless One from the Dawn. The Eldest One and the Cherry Blossom fought and killed the Scorpion, while the Scarecrow and the Hopeful One fought the Clay Bird. The Sleepless One had been killed, but the Eldest One revived him with her techniques. Once again, the Leaves returned to the Tree. Then the Scarecrow, the Cherry Blossom, and the Hopeful One met the Faceless One and the Planter. The Scarecrow had to stay home, so the other four left to try and bring back the Avenger. Sadly, they failed once again. Another part of the Dawn came to the Tree, the Five Hearts and the Zombie. They attacked the Young Monkey, who died bravely. The Deer, the Boar, and the Butterfly went out to take revenge alongside the Scarecrow. The Hopeful One completed the Slicing Spiral technique and helped defeat the Five Hearts with the Planter, the Faceless One, and the Cherry Blossom.

The Toad Sage left the Tree and went to the Stormcloud to spy on the Ripple and the Paper Angel of the South. He was found and killed, but sent a message back to the Tree with the White-Haired Toad. When the Hopeful One found out about his death, she was enraged and swore to take vengence. She trained with the Toad Clan, became the next Toad Sage and mastered the Slicing Spiral.

"Then at long last, the Hopeful One returned to Konoha and fought Ripple next, defeating his bodies and going to talk to him and the Paper Angel of the South. She changed the Ripple's mind, and he brought back the Leaves he had killed, but sacrificed himself in the process. The Paper Angel of the South gave the Hopeful One the Origami Flower. It was here that the Hopeful One separated from the Tree and became the Black Rose of Hope, and the Paper Angel of the South separated from the Daybreak."

Akarui's eyes were impossibly wide. '_How…how on earth? She just described my whole life from genin onward. She said her eyes let her see the past, present, and future…is it some sort of kekkai genkai or special ability?' _the blonde wondered. Her breath was coming in quick gasps, and the blonde fought to control them. Forcing herself to calm down, she refocused on Azami's words.

"That is your life up 'til now. The curtains of the future are always harder to look through then those of the past and present…But I see twelve people; they will be called the Dusk. Their leader has a black rose nestled in her sunshine hair. She and her eleven companions shall fight Dawn; it will be the Darkness versus the Light. I see many futures, but there are two that stand out. One consists of prosperity and peace, but the other consists of only fear and death. Which one becomes reality hinges completely on those who become the Ten Guardians of the Dusk, mostly on the Black Rose of Hope. She will charge into battle alongside her allies from the Toad Clans, wielding the Dragonfly, her fellow Guardians of the Dusk not far behind. This is what I see, and that is what may become reality."

Akarui's mind was racing at lightning speed as she tried to make sense of the child's words. There must be something special about her for her to know so much about Konoha and the events that had taken place within the village. Could she really see the future and past as she claimed? But that seemed to be the only explanation. Azami knew too much about her for it to be a coincidence…

The jinchuuriki looked up as an old man parted the small crowd that had surrounded Akarui and Azami. She was slightly thankful for this; she was becoming self-conscious because of the awe-filled looks the villagers were giving her. The man was of average height and surprisingly muscular for his age. His eyes were a dark brown that held a deep wisdom while his white hair and beard were long and showed no signs of thinning. He wore a simple black kimono decorated with floating white petals.

"I am Minamoto Kenji, leader of this village. Who are you?" the man asked in a voice that was surprisingly commanding for a civilian.

"Uzumaki Akarui."

The man's eyes narrowed. "Come with me," he ordered quietly. With that the man now identified as Kenji turned towards the center of the village and started walking, Akarui following as directed. Azami grabbed the elder blonde's hand and tagged along. As the three of them walked through the village, the blonde couldn't help but notice the prosperity of the small village. She couldn't see a single sign of somebody living on the streets or even a remotely poor section of houses. The whole town seemed to be well-off, something unheard of in even a village as large as Konoha; Akarui herself had lived in the slum district until she had left a few hours ago.

'_But that house was probably flattened in the attack anyways,'_ the Uzumaki reasoned, mentally chiding herself for thinking of the home she had abandoned. She had to forcibly swallow the hard lump in her throat and ruthlessly stamp out the urge to cry for what she had lost. '_I gave Konoha up for a better future. I did the right thing!'_ Akarui snapped at herself.

But she didn't completely believe it.

The blonde was forced out of her moping by the old man's voice. "We're here," he said quietly.

Akarui began to observe and analyze her surroundings by old habit. The structure they had stopped in front of was the large building she had seen from outside the village. It was made out of a wood that had a dark red tint to it, possibly some sort of cherry tree. The entrance, a pair of massive doors decorated with golden dragons, was flanked by two tigers of the same metal resting upon black marble blocks. The craftsmanship was superb; the animals looked as if they would come alive at any moment. The precious minerals and level of craftsmanship spoke of a great deal of money. Kenji stepped forward and opened the doors, motioning for Akarui and Azami to follow him. The two girls did so and entered the building.

The room Akarui walked into was painted a wine red. It was rather small and was obviously there for the sole purpose of putting one's shoes and coat away. The jinchuuriki slipped off her shinobi sandals but decided to keep her jacket on and ignore the coat hanger beside the shoe shelf. When the blonde looked up, Kenji and Azami had already gone deeper into the building. Shrugging, she walked through the doorway in the opposite end of the room. The doorway lead to a long hallway that was lined with tightly shut doors that Akarui was pretty sure she would be unwelcome in. Several doors down, one was open. Azami and Kenji sat on black satin cushions resting on a tatami-covered floor. Kenji motioned for her to sit, so she did. Several minutes of uncomfortable silence passed before Kenji spoke

"Azami here is blessed with a special gift. Like you have seen, she has the odd ability to see things she shouldn't even know exist. She has been talking about the Black Rose of Hope for a while now. Even we civilians of Hi no Kuni know of Akatsuki by now; they must be the 'Daybreak' that Azami constantly speaks of. But even so, I have a hard time trusting the future of these nations to you, a girl who looks barely a day over sixteen."

Akarui was silent for a few seconds as she decided on the exact words to use. "I…If I was in your position, I wouldn't trust me either. I…You shouldn't just accept me on the words of another, no matter how true they are."

The old man nodded sagely. "By all rights I should send a messenger to Konohagakure immeadiatly telling them that a nukenin passed through this village."

The blonde jinchuuriki tensed immeadiatly as her hand inched towards her kunai pouch.

Kenji chortled lowly. "But I won't. I trust Azami. There was a bandit attack on the village once, but we were able to survive with no damage because Azami told us and we hired a squad of chuunin to protect us. For that reason, and many others…I believe she is in the right about you. You also seem to be a kind and gentle person despite the fact that you are obviously a hardened and powerful kunoichi."

Akarui blushed at the compliment but said nothing.

"As a nukenin of Konoha, you will need to disappear soon. I assume you have money?"

The Uzumaki nodded, patting the scroll that had her gama-chan wallet sealed within it. "Lots of it."

"You have five hours to gather any supplies you need. At the end of that time, meet me back here."

Akarui furrowed her eyebrows at the man's vague instructions. "But…"

"Trust me. Besides, if you stay any longer you'll be found by Konoha-nin, and I'm pretty sure you don't want that."

The blonde nodded, seeing the sense in his words. "Alright…but there had better be no oinin coming."

Kenji chuckled quietly but offered no reply. Akarui snorted but got up, her red robe billowing out from around her form. _'Damn old man,' _she grumbled mentally.

"EHHH? Wait for me, Akarui-sama!"

The Uzumaki's eyebrow twitched at the honorific as a small body latched onto her leg. "Please don't call me that."

"Call you what, Akarui-sama?"

Akarui just groaned in response. "I have to go shopping. You should go back to your parents."

"I ain't got no parents."

Akarui's eyes widened in shock as she turned around to look at Azami. "You…you're an orphan? What about the woman I found you with?"

"Ye, ever since I remember. Obaa-san is a helper at the orphanage."

Akarui looked at Kenji, her blue eyes meeting his brown ones. The old man nodded, confirming the truth of Azami's words. The Uzumaki's gaze returned to Azami, reassessing the young girl. And suddenly, without her consent, she found her lips forming words.

"…Kenji-san, if I may…I would like to take Azami with me to train her to be a kunoichi as my apprentice if she wishes."

The old man frowned, and Akarui shuddered slightly at the feeling of having those knowing eyes pierce her soul. "It would all be up to Azami herself…"

"I wanna go! I wanna help Akarui-sama defeat the Daybreak!"

"Then I shall respect your wishes. Just know that you always have a home here, Azami."

The purple-eyed girl's face broke into a large grin. "Thanks Jiji!"

Kenji smiled slightly. "Good luck child. Akarui-san? Take good care of her. Do not stray from your path."

A small smile touched Akarui's lips. "Of course." With that she swept out of the room, Azami bouncing along behind her.

0o0o0o0o0o

The clear notes of a bell rang from the depths of the tailoring shop as Akarui opened the glass door. The shop she had entered advertised custom tailoring, exactly the thing she had been looking for. Normal civilian clothes wouldn't do, after all; they would rip and tear too easily.

The shop itself was small and homely. Rolls of different cloth were shelved along the walls, stretching up to the ceiling. Near the back of the shop were three worktables, each with a sewing machine laden with several strips of cloth. The whole room smelled like cedar and the air was slightly musty.

A door behind the worktables opened to reveal a mousy little man with glasses, amber-colored hair, and chocolate brown eyes. He looked to be in his mid-forties.

"Ah! A customer, excellent! What can I do for you?"

The corners of Akarui's mouth curved up into a small smile at the man's optimistic nature before she once again turned serious. "Before we get started, there are three conditions that I need you to agree to. I'll give you 10,000 ryo as compensation. First, I need you to swear you won't tell anybody about what goes on in this shop while I'm here. If somebody asks about me, you need to tell them you've never seen me before. Second, I need my orders filled out in four and a half hours. Third, you can't ask any questions about me or my companion. Can you do that?"

The man laughed. "For that kind of money, that's easy. Somebody after you, kid? Seems like you really don't want to be found."

Akarui shrugged. "Perhaps," she said evasively. "Perhaps not."

The man laughed again. "I think I'm beginning to like you, kid. By the way, I'm Taichi."

"You can call me Hekikuu."

"Well then, Hekikuu-san, anything in particular you want?"

Akarui placed a finger on her lip as she pondered the question. "Hm…A high-collared black-sleeved shirt, fingerless black gloves, definitely, loose-ish black pants," the Uzumaki drawled. She was about to turn to Azami before she remembered something Jiraiya had said once. _'Uniforms signify numbers and safety. If you are on the run from somebody with another shinobi, make sure they know who you are; make sure they know there are more of you. That's why the Konoha chuunin and jounin uniforms exist.' _"…And high-collared, long- and wide-sleeved gray robe with sky-blue lining drawn in at the waist for a more feminine silhouette, preferably with ties on the inside to hold it closed. That's about it for me…Azami, what's your favorite color?"

"Royal purple!"

The Uzumaki nodded absently. _'Azami seems like she would wear pants and a simple shirt. Hm…' _"The same sort of robe for the little one here except with purple lining. Black cargo pants and a purple tank top. Also, could you spare some purple silk? Something that can be used for hair ties? I'll have two sets of both outfits except for the cloak; we only need one of those."

Taichi nodded enthusiastically. "That will total to about 25,000 ryo. Now I just need to take your measurements…"

"Alright. I'll pay you for the clothing along with the bonus when I pick the clothing up," said Akarui as the man pulled out a tape measure and began to take various measurements for her and Azami's bodies, humming to himself.

"It'll be ready in three hours, just like you ordered," Taichi said when he was done.

Akarui nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you. Azami, c'mon, we've got more shopping to do."

"Okay!"

The Uzumaki left the store, Azami bouncing after her. "Now, I need some scrolls, ink, and brushes…" the blonde said out loud.

"There's a nice store that sells writin' stuff!" exclaimed Azami. "This way!"

Akarui laughed heartily as the young girl lead her towards one of the shops that lined the city's streets.

The store Azami stopped in front of was quite a bit larger than the one the two females had been in previously. A cloth banner hung over the entrance, reading simply _Black Ink. _Akarui quirked an eyebrow at the odd name but pushed the door open anyways. The store was clean and the merchandise was organized in neat rows. The smell of fresh paper and ink permeated the air.

Akarui idled through the rows of merchandise before grabbing a large scroll that was easily the size of the Forbidden Scroll Akarui had stolen after her third genin exam. On her way out to the cashier, she snatched three bottles of chakra conductive black ink and a couple of high-quality brushes.

The cashier was an orange-haired woman with green eyes and a sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her nose. "So you're a ninja, eh? We keep that chakra ink in stock mostly for traveling Konoha-nin, but you don't seem to be from Konohagakure…"

"I was born there."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it." With that, Akarui left the store with her purchased items, not willing to talk about her former home. Not so soon after leaving it when her emotions were still raw.

Once she got out of the store, Akarui searched her sealing scrolls for the one that held a scroll holster. The Uzumaki finally found the scroll and unrolled it before placing her chakra-infused hand on the sealing array and unsealing the holster. She slipped the holster around the scroll and slipped it over her head in one smooth movement before making her way towards a grocery store she had noticed earlier. "C'mon Azami. We've got grocery shopping to do."

The young girl was quick to follow. "Hai!"

Akarui grinned at Azami. "All right. I have a lot to teach, so be sure to listen. The main advantage shinobi have over other types of fighters is the energy known as chakra. Chakra is a precise mixture of a person's spiritual and physical energies. I'm assuming you've heard of ninjutsu?" she was relieved when Azami nodded. "Ninjutsu is one way that chakra can be utilized. There are two other commonly-known ways to manipulate chakra; taijutsu and genjutsu. Ninjutsu physically manifests chakra outside of the body in different forms, mainly in elemental techniques. There are five elements; wind, lightning, earth, water, and fire. Each ninja's chakra leans towards one element; that element is called a ninja's elemental affinity. My affinity is wind. They also follow the laws of nature; each element is strong against one element is weaker to another. For example, water techniques will overcome fire techniques of the same or lower level while they will be overcome by equal or greater earth techniques. Taijutsu do not actually need chakra to be preformed, but chakra can be used to strengthen the attacks. The best example of this is Tsunade of the Sannin, who can infuse chakra into her fist and cause a minor earthquake. Genjutsu are used by manipulating the chakra in an opponent's brain, causing the opponent to see, feel, hear, taste, and smell things that really aren't there."

Azami blinked as she digested the information. "Wow. That's a lot of stuff to remember."

Akarui grinned. "You'll get used to it, trust me. There is also another branch of the shinobi arts that are not as commonly used; fuuinjutsu. Fuuinjutsu can be used for just about anything if you have complete mastery and knowledge; but that's something no one has achieved since the Shodaime Hokage's time. I knew a kunoichi who sealed thousands of weapons inside scrolls and then released them during battle, flinging weapon after weapon towards the opponent. It was quite terrifying, I can tell you. Another useful property of fuuinjutsu is that the items that are sealed are not affected by time, so we can buy a month's worth of groceries and they'll still be as fresh as when we bought them a year from now."

Azami snorted. "So that's why we're going shopping…"

"Yep! Anyways, another thing you can do with fuuinjutsu is seal ninjutsu in it. You can quite literally seal any technique inside a scroll and then release it whenever is convenient for you."

Azami nodded thoughtfully. "So, like, you could use any sort of nin-whatever if you had sealed it before?"

"Ninjutsu Azami, ninjutsu. And yes. Even better, since the original user of the technique has already released the chakra for said technique, no chakra is required to unseal and use the technique!"

By this time, the duo had entered the store. As soon as they reached the isle that had freeze-dried ramen, Akarui snatched a good dozen bowls of the food, grinning happily. "Ramen! My favorite!"

"You want anything in particular?" asked Akarui.

"Poky!"

The blonde blinked. _'Um…okay…' _"What flavor?"

"Chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla!"

_'She's nearly as obsessed with poky as I am with ramen, I can just tell…'_

Nevertheless, Akarui bought two packages of each flavor for Azami.

By the time she paid for the purchased food, Akarui had enough food to last for a month, easily. She and Azami wouldn't be going hungry, that was for sure. '_Now, to seal all of this stuff…'_

Akarui slipped into a deserted ally before unrolling the large scroll on her back, taking out her ink and brushes, and beginning to create the fuuinjutsu arrays needed to seal the food. Azami watched from over the Uzumaki's shoulder, her purple eyes following every movement of the brush and graceful line of the ink.

0o0o0o0o0

Five hours after their first conversation, Akarui and Azami returned to the large building at the center of the town.

Just ten minutes earlier they had picked up their clothing from Taichi and put it on. Akarui was pleased to find it fit perfectly; the man was most certainly an excellent tailor.

When Akarui entered the room in which she had spoken with Kenji, she found him in a meditative position. Lying in front of him was an old spear with a simple, slightly rusted triangle-shaped blade and the tattered remnants of a black tassel at the end of the oak handle. Two kanji were engraved into the wood just above the blade, but Akarui couldn't read them.

When Azami and the Konoha nukenin sat down across from Kenji, he opened his eyes. "Ah, hello again, Akarui-san. Do you have everything you need?"

Akarui nodded wordlessly in confirmation. Azami chose this moment to start telling Kenji about what they had done.

"And, like, she told me all about the ninjutsu 'n taijutsu 'n genjutsu! I never knew what chakra was before!"

Akarui chuckled slightly at Azami's antics.

Kenji met Akarui's gaze before he spoke. "This spear in front of me may not look like much, but it is far more then what it appears to be. It is, however, very picky about whom it reveals its true form to. Only when one worthy of wielding it picks it up will it shed its disguise. I believe you, Akarui-san, may be capable of becoming the wielder of this weapon. All you have to do is touch it."

Part of Akarui wanted to believe the old man in front of her, but the whole idea seemed kind of ridiculous. A spear that chose its wielder? _'But it can't hurt to try…' _she decided before reaching out and laying her right hand on the spear.

The weapon seemed to momentarily glow a vibrant sky blue. When the light faded, the spear had completely transformed. The blade was no longer rusted and now shone brightly. The shape had also changed; the spearhead was now in more of a spade shape than that of a triangle. The tassel had been repaired; the black silk had a healthy sheen to it. The kanji above the blade were now readable.

_'Tonbogiri…'_

Kenji smiled. "I thought so…Tonbogiri got its name from an event almost immeadiatly after its forging. A dragonfly landed on the edge of the blade and was cut in half immeadiatly. Seals so complex that no modern day shinobi could even hope to comprehend keep the blade sharp and keen. These seals also decide which people will make worthy wielders and which won't."

Akarui lightly ran her fingers over the spear, reveling in the feeling of hard steel underneath her fingertips. _'Tonbogiri, eh? Interesting…'_

Akarui sat up before leaning down and touching her head to the floor. "You are an extremely wise man, Kenji-san. Thank you for your gift."

"No, thank you. For what you will become."

The Uzumaki smiled in gratitude before getting up and exiting the village, Azami in tow.


	3. Wind

Thanks to Prescirpto13 and sousie for reviewing.

People, if there is anything confusing about this story (Why did X do this and not this? I thought it would be cool if X had done this) please tell me. Also, any suggestions for the plot and/or commentary is welcome.

Glossary

Kage Bunshin: Shadow Clones

Kami: God

Rasengan: Spiraling Sphere

Kaze no Kuni: Land of Wind

Sunagakure no Sato: The Village Hidden in the Sand

Henge: Transform

Murasaki: Purple

Gaki: Brat

Fuuton: Wind Release

Ookamaitachi: Great Sickle Weasel/Scythe Weasel

Kamaitachi: Sickle Weasel

Boshoku: Dusk

Fuuton: Tsujikaze no Ten: Wind Release: Whirlwind of the Heavens

Wind

Akarui gently lowered Azami from her back and on to the ground. The poor child had been exhausted after a couple of hours of running, so the blonde had carried her piggyback style for the next two hours. The purple-eyed girl had slept most of the way.

The sun had set about an hour ago. The rumbling in Akarui's stomach told her that dinner was a necessity; Azami was probably hungry as well. Akarui unrolled the large scroll she had bought earlier that day and pulled out another, smaller black one from her pouch. Eventually Akarui unsealed two packages of miso ramen as well as some water in which to cook the noodles. She wasn't really in the mood to cook anyways; she just wanted to eat dinner and go to sleep.

The Uzumaki quickly created two Kage Bunshin to go find some firewood. A small groan caused Akarui to whip around, but the blonde relaxed when she discovered that the source of the noise was Azami.

"Akarui-sama..?"

"Akarui-sensei now, actually. But…you can't call me Akarui anymore."

Azami frowned. "Why not?"

"As you know, I've defected from Konoha, where I served as a shinobi. When a ninja defects from a village, they become a nukenin and are given the death penalty, at least in most cases. Sometimes they are given a more lenient punishment, but those instances are rare. Akarui isn't exactly the most common name, so it might cause problems if you're heard in public calling me that. Just call me…Hekikuu…for now."

"Hai…Hekikuu-sensei."

Akarui let out a hearty chuckle. "You make me laugh too much, Azami." The blonde's expression turned serious. "You remember what I said earlier about chakra, right?"

"Hai. Chakra is a mixture of spiritual 'n physical energy. It's used t' strengthen taijutsu n' perform genjutsu n' ninjutsu."

"You're a fast learner. That's a good thing; it'll make it a lot easier to teach you. Before I can teach you even the basics of being a proper kunoichi, you must be able to readily access your chakra. I have no doubt that you can already access it, but only subconsciously. There's probably some sort of chakra usage involved with your…ability." Akarui closed her eyes and went back to her memories from her Academy days. How was it that students were taught to use chakra..? Ah, yes, that was it. "Have you been taught to meditate?"

"Hai."

"Alright. What I need you to do is meditate and search your mind for what will seem like a blue flame. And yes, I do realize how totally improbable that sounds."

Azami gave her a slightly dubious look before settling into a meditative position and closing her purple eyes. Akarui watched her student silently for a good five minutes until her Kage Bunshin came back with armfuls of wood. The blonde motioned for her clones to be silent as they positioned the firewood inside a makeshift circle of stones. The jinchuuriki unrolled the black scroll she had taken out earlier and unsealed a matchbox before striking one of the matches on the back of the box and lighting the fire. After that, she unsealed a pot and an iron grate from the same scroll. Akarui balanced the grate on the stones and dumped the contents of the two freeze-dried ramen bowls into the pot before pouring in the correct amount of water. Soon enough, the delicious smell of ramen began to waft through the forest.

Moments later, Azami's eyes snapped open. "I did it!" she proclaimed. "I did it!"

Akarui smiled at her student. "Of course you did. I knew you could do it."

Azami clenched her fist as a small blue aura began to appear around it. However, it flickered and died seconds later, leaving the brunette breathing hard.

The Uzumaki frowned slightly as she worried over Azami. "Don't overtax yourself. You've been running for a while, and this is your first time consciously using chakra, so you won't have very large reserves yet."

The brunette scowled. "You fought Ripple, carried me, and ran for a good four hours and _you're _not even breaking a sweat!"

Akarui shrugged uncomfortably. "I've been a ninja much longer then you have, so naturally I've built up more stamina. I'm also something of a medical freak; I have insanely high chakra reserves."

"Well then, how d' I increase my reserves?"

"Physical energy increases as your body grows stronger, so the main things that you can do are practice basic workouts and grow. Spiritual energy increases with meditation, knowledge, and experience, so I suggest you listen to what I tell you and meditate when you can to increase that type of energy."

Azami nodded slowly. "Okay…"

When their dinner was eaten, Akarui created three more clones. As they poofed into existence, she pointed to the one on the left and said, "You take watch. In the middle, you gather Sage Chakra. On the right, figure out how to fight with a spear."

The clones gave their creator a salute before spreading out to complete their various tasks. The one that had been in the middle simply sat down cross-legged and began to gather Sage Chakra. The one of the left disappeared into the foliage, probably sitting on one of the tree branches. The clone that had been on the right pulled out its own copy of the scroll Akarui had sealed Tonbogiri in earlier, unsealed the weapon, and began to swing it experimentally.

Satisfied that her clones were doing their jobs, Akarui returned her attention to her own task and pulled out a blue scroll that held all of her notes on the Rasengan.

Jiraiya had taught her to take notes on her jutsu and how she used them because it could help with finding their flaws and fixing them. During her training trip with Jiraiya, she had tinkered with the Rasengan a few times, creating variations on the infamous jutsu such as the Ōdama Rasengan. Akarui skimmed through the notes until she reached the section about chakra control and concentration.

The main problem was that Akarui had problems concentrating on both the 'rotation' and the 'shell' of the Rasengan. Combine that with her horrid chakra control, and you had someone who couldn't perform the Rasengan without a Kage Bunshin.

_'But Sennin Modo is all about control and concentration…maybe I can do it one-handed now? I haven't tried since I first learned the Rasengan…'_

Akarui held out her right hand and began to mold her chakra into her hand. Ever so slowly, a blue orb of rotating chakra began to appear in her hand. It took a good two minutes for the Rasengan to fully form, but it was still a Rasengan. _'Finally!'_ thought Akarui as she mentally jumped for joy. _'Now all I have to do is work on forming it faster…'_

0o0o0o0o0

Azami was a fast learner, Akarui discovered. After a half day of succeed-or-be-left-behind training on increasing one's speed with chakra, the young brunette could leap through the trees like most shinobi. At about mid-afternoon, they had reached the edges of Hi no Kuni's forest-covered terrain and the beginning of Kaze no Kuni's desert.

Azami's energy was fading fast. The small brunette was breathing hard and her movements were much slower than they had been earlier. The former Konoha-nin's eyes narrowed slightly. _'She can't go on much longer,' _she realized. _'Did I push her too hard?'_ Akarui kneeled down, her back to Azami. The blonde knew her student had recognized the gesture when a pair of arms wrapped themselves loosely around her neck. Hooking her arms under the child's legs, the jinchuuriki took off with blinding speed towards Sunagakure.

"Where are we goin' Hekikuu-sensei?"

"We're going to a place known as Sunagakure. It's Kaze no Kuni's Hidden Village."

"Oh! Is that the place where the Folding Fan, the Puppeteer, and the Sleepless One are from?"

"If the Folding Fan has blonde hair and dark green eyes, the Puppeteer has a black jumpsuit and purple face paint, and the Sleepless One has red hair and a gourd on his back, then yes."

"Ya, that's 'em!"

"There's actually a few questions I've been meaning to ask you about your ability. First, can you control when and what you see?"

"Nah. Sometimes it seems that it's triggered by, like, a visual thing like the Tree's symbol. Sometimes it just comes. I've tried t' control it before. Didn't work."

"Ah…all right, then how do you decide on what you call people?"

"Well, like, the Folding Fan's name came from her weapon. The Dog's came from his partner."

"Why don't you call them by their real names?"

"Don't know 'em. I can't hear anything in my visions, only see. But like, I can do a little bit of lip-reading."

"Aa, I see…by the way, the Folding Fan's real name is Temari while the Puppeteer's is Kankurou and the Sleepless One's Gaara."

"'Kay!"

0o0o0o0o0o

Two days later, the duo paused outside the pathway that led through the thick, towering walls that surrounded Sunagakure. They had been stopped by a nondescript shinobi that wore the typical Suna chuunin uniform.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "Papers too, while you're at it."

Jiraiya-sensei had been Konoha's resident spymaster. While her combat skills might not have improved as much as she would have liked, Akarui had learned pretty much everything there was to know about espionage during her training trip with him. Having such knowledge, it hadn't been that hard to forge some fake documents for her and Azami.

"I'm Yuno Hekikuu and this is my sister, Murasaki. We're here to visit an old friend; he goes by the name of Higurashi Akito." Akarui lied easily as she pulled the forged papers out of her cloak.

The guard shuffled through the official-looking documents before nodding and handing the papers back to Akarui. She nodded curtly before walking through the passageway, Azami following silently.

Once they were walking among the bustling streets of the village, where no one would be able to pick up their conversation over the tumultuous chatter, Azami asked her sensei a question. "Hekikuu-sensei? Who's Higurashi Akito?"

"No clue. Made him up."

"But, like, won't the guards find out?"

"Nah. Don't worry about it."

"…Why are we here again?"

"To pick up a pair of shinobi sandals for you and replenish my supply of weapons."

"...Okay…"

"Do you remember the henge?"

"Yeah."

"I need you to transform into a twelve-year old version of yourself. Make sure to add a hitai-ate with that hourglass-like symbol on it; the one like the Folding Fan's."

"Why do we need one?"

"Because you have to be a shinobi of the village to buy weapons. If we have hitai-ate with Suna's symbol on them, people won't ask any questions."

"Oh. What about you?"

"I'll do a partial henge that'll just form a hitai-ate."

"Okay!"

0o0o0o0o0o0

"Hekikuu-sensei! I want this pair!" Azami shouted.

Akarui turned around when her false name was called. Her student held up a pair of black shinobi boots that were perfectly normal except for the fact that the toes were capped with steel. The blonde took the pair of boots into her hands, searching for any imperfections in the material or craftsmanship. Finding none, she returned the boots to Azami.

"Go and get your size, Murasaki," ordered Akarui as she handed the brunette a wad of bills.

After Akarui had decided on her alias, Azami had demanded her own. _'Probably because of that human need to be part of something secret and selective,' _the jinchuuriki thought wryly. Eventually she had agreed to call Azami 'Murasaki' after the young girl's favorite color. _'I didn't even realize that our aliases are named after the color that makes up of the lining of our cloaks.'_

Azami returned a minute later wearing the boots she had bought and returned about half of the money Akarui had given her. The jinchuuriki grimaced as she went through a few calculations and realized that at this rate she would run out of money sooner than later

'_I'm going to need some sort of income…It's a good thing that I always had a habit of saving up, but either way we're going to run out of money eventually. The only real skills I have are that of a shinobi, but life as a mercenary would sort of defeat the purpose of bringing peace to the world. Maybe I could work as a traveling seal master..? Yeah, that could work, seeing as how there are almost none left. I'm going to have to do some more studying though if I intend to make a living off of f__uu__injutsu mastery…' _thought Akarui.

0o0o0o0o0o

Once they were done shopping, Azami got that faraway look in her eyes before she released her henge and bounced off, shouting about how the Folding Fan was near. Akarui swore violently. _'I swear, this girl is going to make my hair go prematurely gray,'_ she grumbled mentally. _'But why did Temari have to show up now, of all times? As if I don't have enough problems to deal with already.'_ Reluctantly, Akarui followed her wayward student. It turned out that the brunette had been correct; Temari was walking down the streets, a stick of dango in hand. Her outfit hadn't changed since the last time the Uzumaki had seen her; the wind mistress still wore a black battle kimono with a red sash and a holster on her back for her fan.

As Akarui walked closer, Temari's dark green eyes lit up with recognition. "Hey Akarui. Long time no see, eh?"

The jinchuuriki snorted. "Something like that."

"Who's the brat?"

"That's Azami. I'm taking her on as my apprentice."

"Isn't she a little young?"

"Maybe."

"Hey hey, Don' go talkin' like I'm not here!" shouted Azami.

Akarui laughed and ruffled her student's hair. "Calm down, Imouto-chan."

Temari laughed. "You always manage to attract trouble, don't you?"

Said blonde blinked owlishly. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, baffled.

The Suna-nin just laughed. "C'mon. We've got lots to catch up on."

Akarui shrugged uncomfortably but gestured for Temari to lead the way.

Five minutes later found the trio in a small open-air tea shop. Temari smiled at the waitress. "A pot of jasmine green tea, please."

"Coming right up, Temari-sama!"

Temari lazily rested her head on the palm of her hand. "So, whatcha been up too?"

"Ah, not much. Battling the Akatsuki, training, battling the Akatsuki, and more training."

The wind mistress snorted. "That's just like you, Akarui."

Once again, the Uzumaki was baffled. "Huh?" was her intelligent reply.

"All you ever do is train and fight," elaborated Temari. "Don't you ever relax? Seriously. Have you even been in a romantic relationship before? You're always so uptight about your shinobi duties."

Akarui spluttered indignantly. "Of course! Do you think it's even _possible _to spend two and a half years with Jiraiya, the legendary pervert and author of Icha Icha without being in a relationship? I'm telling you, that man enjoyed meddling with my love life _way _too much."

Temari snorted. "Still. What about after you returned to Konoha? Have you been relaxing at all?"

"…I eat ramen at least once a day." Akarui said weakly.

The Suna-nin groaned. "You're hopeless."

"No I'm not! I'm just a dedicated kunoichi!"

"Fine, fine. It's too troublesome to argue with you anyway."

"…Was that a quote from Shikamaru?"

"Sh-shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"And you were complaining about _my _love life."

Temari grumbled something unintelligible under her breath before crossing her arms childishly. "As if I could like that lazy idiot."

Akarui shook her head in wonder. _'I guess sometimes opposites do attract…' _

"So tell me, what happened since I last saw you? The routine reports we get from Konoha aren't nearly descriptive enough," said Temari

The Uzumaki sighed quietly and began to tell the tale.

What came out of her mouth was _not _what she had meant to say.

She had meant to tell Temari of the Kakuzu-Hidan battle and Jiraiya's death. She then planned on saying that she had left on another training trip, "conveniently" leaving out her battle with Nagato. On the other hand, what came out of her mouth was the truth of it all, including her decision to leave Konoha. It was like the metaphorical dam had been broken once she had started talking; everything had just spilled out. _'Stupid stress making me do stupid things.' _Akarui groused mentally.

Temari was staring at her, obviously attempting to pick her jaw up off of the ground. Akarui tensed and prepared to leap away if the wind mistress gave any hint of attacking,

Finally, the Suna-nin spoke. "You're an idiot."

"I know."

"It's a good thing this shop is too busy for anybody to overhear us. And again, you're an idiot."

Akarui shrugged and looked away uncomfortably. "I didn't know what else to do," she admitted.

"Surely there was some other alternative?"

"None that I could think of."

Temari shook her head. "Like I said earlier, you're unique Akarui. Annoyingly so. But…you'd never purposely harm Konoha or Suna, right?"

"Of course not!"

"Good. That's all I needed to know. C'mon, there's something I gotta get for you!" exclaimed the wind mistress as she grabbed Akarui's wrist and tugged her down the street. Azami followed, a vaguely amused expression decorating her face.

"This isn't funny, Gaki!" Akarui practically roared.

Her only response was a laugh.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Temari had dragged Akarui another shop. But this one was different from all the others she had been in recently because it sold war fans like Temari's - Giant ones that could create deadly hurricanes and windstorms. Akarui almost drooled at the thought.

Temari laughed at her companion's expression and gave her a quick crash course on war fans. "These types of war fans are generally used by people with a wind affinity like you and me. The slats are made from lightweight steel that can vary in color from dark gray to black. The cloth is made of cotton interwoven with steel to make the fan much harder to cut and destroy. They come in various sizes and the length is really only limited by your strength. Have at 'em, Akarui. I'll pay. Pick one and meet me at the front of the shop."

"Thank you so much!" the jinchuuriki squealed, hugging the wind mistress before disappearing among the different war fans.

Akarui idled throughout the store until one particular fan caught her eye. The metal slats were pitch-black while the cloth was a beautiful cerulean blue with three black circles. _'I've been having a lot of luck with color recently,' _Akarui mused. _'It matches my outfit perfectly.' _The Uzumaki estimated the fan to be about five feet in length when she measured it against her own height of five foot four. When opened, it spanned over eight feet at its widest. Humming cheerfully, she walked to the front of the shop.

When Temari saw her choice of weapon, the Suna-nin quirked a sandy blonde eyebrow. "Are you sure that's not too big for you?"

Akarui merely smirked at her friend before grabbing the base of the fan in her right hand and giving it a hard snap to unfurl the weapon.

The wind mistress rolled her eyes. "Show off. C'mon, unless you want to pay for it."

The jinchuuriki jumped slightly before closing her fan and following Temari towards the owner for the shop. The Suna kunoichi wordlessly handed over a stack of ryo bills. The owner counted the money before nodding, at which Temari left with Akarui and Azami.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

By the time they stopped walking, the three kunoichi were at a training ground that contained a field of sand and several large boulders that had large slices in them, indicating some kind of fūton jutsu.

"This is my favorite training ground," Temari declared proudly. "I've been training her since I was an academy student. This is where I perfected my Ookamaitachi."

"Ookamaitachi...?"

"An improved version of the Kamaitachi. I can use it with much greater control and power now."

"Oh."

"What about me?" Azami interrupted.

Akarui merely smirked playfully before forming a familiar cross-like seal. _"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu,"_ she mumbled as a clone poofed into existence.

"C'mon," the clone said to Azami, "let's go."

Azami grinned and followed the clone to a farther point of the training grounds. The original jinchuuriki returned her attention to Temari.

"She's an interesting kid," the Suna-nin observed.

"Yeah," agreed Akarui. "She has potential."

"Anyways, we're here to teach you how to use a fan like a real wind mistress. Fan-based ninjutsu work by amplifying and controlling the wind created by flapping the fan. When you move it, feel the air shift, feel the gusts created by the cloth. Then mold your chakra into the fan and let it flow into the air around you…"

So began Akarui's introduction into the ways of battle fans.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Three days later, Akarui and Temari were eating lunch at a restaurant. The jinchuuriki, predictably, ordered ramen, while the Suna kunoichi had rolled her eyes and ordered some sushi.

"I was thinking about this organization you've been thinking about creating. Boshoku, I think you called it?" Temari said around a mouthful of shrimp and rice.

"Yeah," Akarui confirmed.

"It's supposed to create peace for the Elemental Nations, right?"

"Sustainable peace, to be exact"

"Sustainable peace, eh? Seems kind of far-fetched."

"Hey, that's what people told me about becoming Hokage, but you can't deny I have the strength."

Temari inclined her head. "Fair enough. But…people like you and Gaara…would they even need to exist?"

Akarui frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Jinchuuriki are created as weapons for their villages. If peace was created, would more of them need to exist? I mean, Gaara went through so much, and I can't imagine your childhood was much better. That kind of stuff shouldn't happen. Jinchuuriki shouldn't exist because they don't deserve their burdens, they don't deserve to be shunned as they are. For that reason…I'll support the Boshoku in any way I can. I'll even join it."

Akarui blinked dumbly. "Are you serious?" the jinchuuriki asked incredulously. "What about your loyalty to Suna? Your brothers?"

Temari shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't honestly know. I just know that peace is needed so that jinchuuriki aren't."

The Uzumaki frowned. _'There's got to be some way that she could stay in Suna. Maybe…' _"It might actually be more helpful if you stayed here. I'm going to need a few people on the inside that can tell me what the major Ninja Villages are doing. I don't want to get in their way unless I have to; I'd prefer to solve things without fighting. It would be easier to do that if I had an inside agent. Since the Boshoku would never purposely harm anybody without a valid reason, it wouldn't actually be treason if you don't tell Gaara about it."

"Isn't collaborating with a nukenin treason in and of itself?"

"Technically. Just don't ever mention my real name; call me Hekikuu."

"I guess this means I should get my own version of your grey cloak, eh?" Temari muttered.

Akarui laughed. "It's our symbol, kinda like the Akatsuki cloak. Your lining could be red."

The Suna-nin snorted, but agreed nevertheless.

0o0o0o0o0o0

A week and hundreds of shadow clones later, Akarui had created her own version of the Kamaitachi.

_"F__ū__ton: Tsujikaze no Ten!" _the Uzumaki roared as she swung her fan, creating a decent-sized tornado of chakra-enhanced wind that engulfed one of the boulders on the training ground. The technique bit into the rock and formed deep slashes in the granite.

Temari blinked in surprise. "Wow. Um…congratulations."

Akarui wiped her sweaty blonde bangs away from her forehead. "Thanks."

"Y'know…you should probably get going soon. Tsunade will have no choice but to mark you as a nukenin, and the only reason we haven't heard of it yet is probably because of the disarray Pein's attack left Konoha in. It wouldn't be good for anybody if you were found here."

"True enough. I'll leave with Azami in a few hours. Just give me a little time to get ready."

"Sure."

True to her word, Akarui left two hours later, her next stop already pin pointed in her mind.


	4. Waves and Eddies

A/N: Really guys, really? I got five reviews for the first posting of this chapter. Do I really suck that much? Konoha no Gogyou Tokage got a lot more reviews then that.

To the people who _did _review:

Prescripto13: Thanks! I'm so happy you've reviewed every chapter.

Ladylookslikeadude: Yes, you sense right. As for the chapter being a bit of a filler, a lot of my chapters will be like this: some stuff that isn't terribly important but some elements that will be important in the rest of the story.

Dakuenjeru: Probably. I shall update as soon as the next chapter is beta-ed. Make sure to send your love to ElwynWanderer for being my beta and putting up with my craziness.

The-new-black: Yeah, I have a habit of either making a story that's unique or totally cliché. Thanks.

ElwynWanderer: Thanks!

Boshoku Aliases

Hekikuu: Azure Sky, Akarui's alias

Murasaki: Purple, Azami's alias

Shiro: White, Kaoru's alias

Glossary

Shousen no Jutsu: Mystical Palm Technique

Uzu no Kuni: The Land of the Eddies

Uzushiogakure no Sato: The Village Hidden in the Swirling Tides

Shodaime Hokage: First/Founding Fire Shadow

Waves and Eddies

Rain was pouring down from the cloudy gray skies in the bucketfuls. Akarui was once again carrying Azami on her back, as the brunette was barely able to keep her eyes open at the moment. It wasn't that much of a surprise; Akarui had been pushing her student to her limits in an effort to get out of Hi no Kuni as fast as possible.

Once she had gotten out of Suna, Akarui had decided to make her way to the Wave Country. To reach the Wave Country she had to pass through the Land of Fire again, so she had decided to send out a shadow clone henged into a hawk as a scout to see what Konoha was up to. It turned out that Danzou had been elected Rokudaime Hokage as Tsunade had fallen into a coma. When Akarui heard that, she had picked up her pace considerably as the old bastard wouldn't hesitate to put her name on the list of nukenin.

_'Now where exactly was it that old bridge-builder, Tazuna lived?' _wondered Akarui as she picked through her memory. The blonde let out a long-suffering sigh. She was cold, wet, and soaked to the bone. All she wanted at the moment was a nice, warm bed so she could go to sleep and be dead to the world for the next few days.

Akarui's eyes were caught by a familiar-looking house and she grinned. _'Finally,' _she thought. The jinchuuriki turned her head slightly so she could whisper something in Azami's ear. "Wake up Imouto-chan. I think I've found somewhere we can stay."

Purple eyes flickered open. "Huh?" mumbled Azami, her voice still rough from sleep.

"We're at a house belonging to an old friend of mine," the Kyuubi jinchuuriki explained.

The jinchuuriki strode forward and knocked on the door. It was opened about two seconds later by a black-haired woman in her thirties that the blonde immediately recognized as Tsunami. The woman stared at the duo blankly, obviously not expecting visitors. It took her a few seconds to recognize Akarui.

"Akarui! Come in, get out of the rain!" said Tsunami as she opened the door wider.

"Thanks Tsunami," the blonde said before she stepped inside the entrance/living room and gently lowered Azami to the floor.

The young girl blearily opened her eyes, then tottered over to the couch and collapsed into the cushions. Akarui grinned ruefully and said, "You're going to have to get out of those clothes eventually, you know."

Azami mumbled something incomprehensible before pulling a pillow over her head. The blonde chuckled at her student's childish innocence. _'Is this what a family feels like?' _she wondered.

Tsunami watched the scene unfold from the doorway to the kitchen. "I'll get some tea," she said quietly.

Akarui smiled gratefully at her. "That would be really nice, Tsunami."

Tsunami disappeared into the kitchen as the blonde took off her sopping cloak and hung it up on one of the several hooks by the door. Akarui slipped off her scroll holster and placed it next to the doorway beside her cloak. "I'm going up to the bathroom to get towels!" Akarui hollered and walked up the stairs, trying to remember where the bathroom was. When she found the room, she grabbed two white towels and began drying her hair with one before walking back downstairs.

The living room smelled faintly of flowering herbs when Akarui entered the room again. Azami was now sitting up, a hot cup of tea in her hands. A gentle smile touched the blonde's face. _'Yeah, this is a family,' _she decided as she wrapped the second towel around Azami.

"How are you doing, Azami?" asked the former Konoha-nin

"I'm cold," Azami whined.

"Drink your tea then," Akarui suggested. "It will warm you up."

The purple-eyed kunoichi nodded idly as Tsunami entered the room again. "Akarui, I gave some chamomile tea to Azami-san to help her sleep, but I can make something else for you," she said.

The blonde shook her head. "It's fine. I haven't slept very well the past few days with all that's been going on anyways. Anyway, where are Inari and Tazuna? I was hoping to see them."

"Well, we heard about Akatsuki's attack on Konoha, and they decided to go help rebuild along with several other carpenters from around here. You are this country's hero, Akarui."

The Uzumaki blushed. "That was a long time ago. I didn't do much of the work; it was mostly Kakashi-sensei."

"But you gave Inari hope, and Inari gave the villagers hope," Tsunami pointed out. "The bridge was named after you, you know."

Akarui stared at the older female in shock. "What? Really?"

"Yep! It's called the Great Akarui Bridge now."

The jinchuuriki shook her head in wonder. "Amazing. I never would've thought…"

Azami interrupted them, asking, "Sensei? How do you know Tsunami-san? And what's the Great Akarui Bridge?"

The blonde chuckled before telling the tale. The rest of the night was filled with idle chatter that held a bittersweet tone for the former Konoha-nin. _'Innocence. What every shinobi wants but will never get.' _

She felt guilty for pulling Azami down into the world of blood and hate beside her.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Three hours later Azami and Tsunami were both in bed, but Akarui was still up, sitting on the couch and staring out the rain-streaked window.

As she looked intently beyond the glass her mind filled with images of her former comrades sneering at her, calling her a traitor. It hurt, and it hurt badly because they were right; she was a traitor, she was a missing-nin. The memory of Tsunade giving her the Shodaime Hokage's necklace was heavy on her mind. _'I promised to become Hokage. I promised to bring Sasuke back. I promised not to go back on my word. In the end, they were all oaths destined to fail,' _thought Akarui. _'Crap. I sound like Neji now. But…Jiraiya-sensei, what would you think of me now? Would you hate me for leaving Konoha? Would you call me an idiot but support my decision? Would you yell at me and tell me there was a better way to go about bringing peace? But I guess I'll never know, because you're dead now. You're not here to help me anymore, Jiraiya-sensei, but I can just imagine what you'd say to me now.'_

Akarui could clearly see her sensei saying,"Suck it up kid! You have people to take care of. You're a leader now, so start acting like one! Stop second-guessing yourself."

'_That's what you would tell me. I guess that's kind of what I have to do, huh? I've made my decision; I have to deal with the consequences now.'_ Akarui thought and smiled sadly as she got up and walked towards the guest bedroom.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The next morning, Akarui awoke to the delicious smell of miso ramen. Her eyes snapped open immediately and she sat up in bed quickly when she recognized the smell. _'Yummy,'_ she thought, licking her lips in anticipation. _'Ramen, here I come!' _ The Akarui got dressed in her spare outfit and reminded herself to check and see if her clothing from last night was dry yet.

When Akarui reached the kitchen, she poked her head in to see Azami polishing off a bowl of miso soup as Tsunami stirred a pot of ramen on the stove.

The black-haired woman looked up. "You're finally awake, Akarui. I made some ramen for you; I know how much you like the stuff."

The missing-nin scratched the back of her head sheepishly and grinned. "Sorry. And thanks again, Tsunami. You've been more then welcoming."

"It's nothing really, don't worry about it."

Akarui looked down when she felt Azami tug on her shirt. "Once you're done with breakfast, you're training me!" the younger girl declared loudly, scowling up at her mentor.

Azami's mentor chuckled and ruffled the brunette's hair. "Alright, all right, Imouto-chan. I promise." The last phrase caused Akarui's heart to clench painfully and wince slightly at her ironic, if subconscious, choice of wording. _'I promise. Heh. I promised a lot of things, didn't I?' _ Shaking that depressing thought out of her head, the Uzumaki sat down at the kitchen table and began to eat the bowl of ramen Tsunami had placed in front of her. _'Thank Kami for ramen,' _she thought. _'It's nice to have comfort food. Tsunami's a good cook too, almost as good as Teuchi from Ichiraku's…' _ Akarui let out a heavy sigh. The hand that held her chopsticks was trembling; the blonde willed it to stop. Unshed tears began prickled at the back of her eyes as a large lump formed in her throat, but the Uzumaki grit her teeth and forced the memories of her former home out of her mind.

"What's wrong, Sensei?" asked Azami, concern clear in her voice.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it, Imouto-chan," Akarui responded, lying through her teeth. She once again thanked Jiraiya for her training in espionage; it had included lying and acting as well.

Over the past two days, since she had left Suna, the beginnings of a plan had been blossoming in Akarui's mind. Since she wouldn't be able to meet up with Temari often, some form of long-distance communication was a must. She had immediately thought of the seal that Jiraiya had mentioned once on their training trip. He had called it the Kokoro Tsunagari Fuuin, or the Mind Connection Seal. She had asked how to do it, but he had laughed and said that he could barely do it and that she would have to work a lot harder on her fuuinjutsu skills if she wanted to do it. Jiraiya told her that it had to be based off of a tangible object, often jewelry. When Akarui later told him of the strange long-distance communication between the Akatsuki members, the Sannin had commented that it might have been some form of the Kokoro Tsunagari Fuuin.

So all she had to do was complete the seemingly impossible feat of reverse-engineering a high A-Rank seal. On the bright side however, she had hundreds of shadow clones at her disposal which would speed up the process one thousand fold and she was the apprentice of the legendary Jiraiya of the Sannin, super pervert and one of the last Seal Masters alive. Akarui _had _to have picked up something after spending two and a half years with him or else she really would have been a complete idiot.

"Tsunami, do you know of any decent jewelry stores around here?" asked the blonde.

The older female looked slightly taken aback, probably not expecting her to care about such things. "Um, there are a few around here, but Suzuki Hideaki's is the best. Here, I'll give you the directions."

Beside Akarui, Azami frowned. "Hey, what about me?" she demanded.

The jinchuuriki smirked slyly before forming the hand seal for her favorite technique. _"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," _she muttered. Two clones appeared on the opposite side of the table. "You," Akarui said, pointing to the one on the left, "work with Azami. On the right, work on the Kokoro Tsunagari."

Her clones nodded obediently and chorused, "Sure thing, Boss."

Azami blinked before following the grinning clone that Akarui had assigned to teach her. The other one slipped out of the house, probably to find a more open space to practice the Kokoro Tsunagari – seals had a habit of blowing up in your face if they weren't done properly.

Now everything was taken care of, it was time to do some shopping.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Ten minutes later, Akarui opened the door and stepped into a relatively small but well-furnished room. The walls were lined with glass cases that showed dozens of well-made necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings. Against the back wall of the shop was a desk with a cash register. A black-haired man in his early twenties stood behind it, dutifully sorting through various bills.

Akarui silently swept up to him before clearing her throat. The man jumped violently and looked around frantically as if expecting someone to attack him. When he finally noticed the Uzumaki, he blushed violently. "S-sorry. Is there something I c-can do for y-you?" he stuttered out.

Akarui's eyes swept the room. When she saw nobody else around, she returned her gaze to the shopkeeper who was shifting nervously from foot to foot."I need to talk to Sakamoto Hideaki," she said bluntly. "Is he in?"

The man nodded reverently. "Right away, Miss!" he squeaked out before exiting through the door behind his desk. Moments later, a gray-haired man who looked to be about fifty appeared from the same door. He blinked once before speaking.

"I'm sorry about my assistant. He's always had trouble around pretty girls," the man said.

Akarui inclined her head but blushed slightly. "Thank you. Sakamoto-san, right?"

The jeweler's slightly wrinkled face broke into a grin. "Yeah, that's me. What can I do for you?"

"I am a wandering seal master. I'm looking for a decent metal smith who can do custom jobs."

"A seal master, eh? I've heard your kind can increase the hardness of metals, but what else can you do? And what's this custom job you've been talking about? "

"I can harden metals, sharpen them, and even create seals that allow me to make people see things that aren't there. I need twelve plain steel discs about a centimeter across on reasonably thick chains and the same number of plain hitai-ate with gray cloth."

Something unintelligible flashed through the man's dark eyes. "You're a missing-nin," he stated.

Akarui narrowed her eyes and let the man see the honesty behind her words. "So? I'll still pay for what I need. If I had wanted you dead, you would be by now. Trust me, I mean you no harm, Sakamoto-san, truly I don't."

Hideaki sighed. "For some strange reason, I believe you. Alright, fine. You can work here improving my jewelry until you've earned enough money to pay for the stuff. After that, I'm going to send you packing. I don't want Hunter-nin in my hometown any time soon."

Akarui sighed quietly in relief. "Thank you, Sakamoto-san."

The jeweler merely smirked and replied, "Just don't make me regret this."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Akarui walked back into Tazuna's house later that day after spending a few hours working with Hideaki. Moments after she entered the house, the clone that had been working on the Kokoro Tsunagari dispelled and bombarded her head with its memories.

Her clone had found a small clearing only a little ways out of Tazuna's home and created twenty-odd shadow clones. They had each set out with a slightly different plan for the seal, and more than half of them had been blown up in the first few hours. One of them had accidentally created a seal that seemed to speed up the body's healing process in a manner similar to the Shousen no Jutsu, one of the more commonly used medical techniques. The blonde mentally filed that away for examination at a later time. Unfortunately, none of the clones had come even close to finding the correct formula for the Kokoro Tsunagari. Akarui pinched the bridge of her nose in a futile attempt to ward off the headache she could already feel pulsing behind her temples. _'This is going to take forever,' _she whined mentally. _'I - we – don't have that kind of time. In a few weeks, I'm going to have to move on again. Maybe we could visit Konan? I did say I would go to Amegakure, after all.' _

Akarui's eyes snapped open as another set of memories entered her head as her second clone was dispelled. Azami had been put through some of the basic chakra- and stamina-building exercises that most Academy students knew as well as some target practice with shuriken, senbon, and kunai. The brunette was surprisingly proficient with senbon. _'Hmm…I think I still have that scroll of poisons and the other of the nervous system. I should probably pick up a few medical books in the next shinobi village we stop at, for me and Azami both. It wouldn't do for either of us to get badly injured, especially since I can't risk going to a hospital since my advanced healing rate would raise questions I couldn't comfortably answer.'_

Akarui created three more clones and sent them off to practice fighting with Tonbogiri, the Rasengan, and the Kokoro Tsunagari respectively.

About five minutes later, Azami walked in through the door, looking exhausted. A shallow cut on her palm bled sluggishly. The Uzumaki let out a small, "tch," before pulling out some antiseptic and bandages and dressing the cut. When she was done, the blonde patted the smaller girl's head kindly. "There ya go," she chirped brightly.

Azami smiled up at her. "Thanks, Sensei!"

Akarui's smile widened and she ruffled her student's hair affectionately.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Two days later found the blue-eyed blonde and purple-eyed brunette sitting down at a sushi restaurant for dinner. All had been normal until Azami had blinked once and began to speak. "The Snow-Haired One is coming," she had mumbled, sounding surprised. Seeing her sensei's blank look, the girl elaborated on her statement. "He's a fuuinjutsu specialist and a medical shinobi, about forty years old and a darn good shinobi. It seems that his path crosses yours more than once over time, but I cannot detect anything else at the moment."

Akarui nodded absently. She didn't think much about her student's words until three minutes later when the duo exited the restaurant and saw a man with steel gray eyes and shoulder-length pale, almost white, blue hair. "That's him!" whispered Azami excitedly. "I know it is!"

Akarui turned to glance over the man. There was certainly nothing about him that really stood out; he was wearing a long sleeved black shirt and black pants. The blonde would have looked over him if it wasn't for the carefully restrained chakra that she could feel pulsing from underneath his skin. _'He's a fuuinjutsu specialist, right? Maybe…' _The blonde stepped forward and tapped the man's shoulder. He looked up, startled. "I need to talk to you," she murmured. "We should probably go somewhere more private."

The man's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he nodded slightly and followed Akarui to the outskirts of the town. When the trio stopped walking, Azami took her place beside Akarui while the man leaned against a wooden fence. "So what was it that you wanted?" he asked curiously.

"You are a shinobi. A fuuinjutsu specialist, correct?" asked Akarui.

The man's voice took on a guarded tone when he next spoke. "I might have been, once upon a time. Now I'm just an ordinary medic."

"I'm working on a seal that you might have heard of before. Does the Kokoro Tsunagari Fuuin ring a bell?"

"I've heard of it, yes."

"I need to complete it. I currently have no idea how to do it, so I've been experimenting with my shadow clones, but I haven't gotten anywhere. I was hoping you could help me with it."

"Why do you want that particular seal?"

Akarui sighed heavily. _'Should I tell him about the Boshoku? If he found out, he might eventually tell more people, which wouldn't really be a bad thing. Or he could refuse to help me, seeing as how I'm a missing-nin, but that would make him a hypocrite since he's probably one as well.' _Akarui's mind frantically raced through the possible consequences of telling him why she needed the Kokoro Tsunagari. When the kunoichi didn't come up with anything that would be particularly damaging to her goals, she spoke again. "I belong to a relatively new organization called the Boshoku. Our members are spread out over long distances, so I was hoping that we could use the Kokoro Tsunagari to communicate over said distances."

The man visibly tensed, and his hands slipped back into his sleeves. Maybe he had kunai hidden there? "What do you want?" he asked, nearly growling. "I've heard of the Akatsuki, and if your organization is anything like that, I won't hesitate to kill you!"

Akarui shook her head. "I have fought the Akatsuki before. They are not my friends. The Boshoku's goal is to stop the wars that torment this world. The Boshoku wants peace, nothing more and nothing less."

The pale-haired shinobi stared blankly at Akarui before he burst into a fit of raucous chuckles. "Peace? Are you insane? We live in the world of _shinobi! _Are you stupid or just crazy?" he asked.

Rage began to bubble and froth inside of Akarui like some deadly elixir. She released the chakra that she had been holding in for that last few days in a large burst and added in some killing intent for a good measure. "How dare you!" she roared, fury written on every inch of her face. "How dare you spit on my dream? On Nagato's and Jiraiya's? You bastard! You have no idea what they – I – have been through! How dare you!"

Her chakra was now visible in her anger, a beautifully deadly, shimmering blue aura around her body. The air was thick with tension and a man lesser then the pale-haired one would have turned and fled, but he didn't. He merely raised his eyebrows and held his hands up in feigned innocence. Ever so slowly, the chakra and killing intent faded as Akarui calmed down. The blonde was still glaring fiercely at the older ninja, however.

"Calm down, kid," he said bluntly.

"I'm not a kid, damn it!"

"You're acting like one."

When Akarui found she had no response to this, she shut up.

"But peace, eh? That's so improbable it's almost ridiculous. You do realize that shinobi have fought each other for more than two hundred years?" the man queried.

Akarui's face hardened and she straightened her spine. "That doesn't matter to me. I will bring peace to this world or die trying," she snarled, her voice filled with determination.

The man shook his head, surprise written on his face. "I've never met somebody like you before. If somebody ever spoke of peace, there was always doubt in their voice. But yours…is filled with nothing but the unbendable steel of determination. Just who are you?" he asked, his voice filled with wonder.

"I am known as Hekikuu. I am the founder of the Boshoku," the blonde said simply.

"That's not your real name, is it?"

"Nope. Mystery's just that much cooler."

The pale-haired ninja snorted. "I'm Uzumaki Kaoru."

Akarui's eyes widened in disbelief. "U…zu…maki…" she muttered. "N-no way…" She stumbled backwards over nothing as her breath quickened. "This can't be possible!"

The newly identified Kaoru frowned. "Eh?"

The jinchuuriki was oblivious to the rest of the world in her shock. "But…I'm an orphan…no way…" she mumbled, not really seeing anything. "Impossible…"

Kaoru blinked. "What's impossible?"

Finally, Akarui came to her senses and shook her head in an attempt to clear it. "My clan name was Uzumaki."

The gray-eyed blinked again, his mouth slightly open. Several moments later, he said, "Well…damn. This was not what I expected when I got up this morning. I thought I was the only one to survive the Uzushio Massacre besides Kushina." When he saw Akarui's blank look, he continued speaking.

"The Uzumaki Clan was native to Uzu no Kuni, now Nami no Kuni, and its hidden village, Uzushiogakure no Sato. The Uzumaki were feared because of their extensive knowledge in the realm of fuuinjutsu. Uzushiogakure and Konohagkure shared a close relationship because the Senju and Uzumaki were distant relatives. During the Third Great Shinobi War, Uzushiogakure was destroyed by Iwa. The survivors scattered across the globe, and all that I know of were hunted down and killed. Anyways, a couple of years before the massacre, a young academy student named Kushina was sent to Konoha to become the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Akarui's eyes widened. _'Konoha had a previous jinchuuriki? Then how did the Kyuubi attack happen?' _she wondered.

"Ever since the Shodaime's wife, Uzumaki Mito, sealed the Kyuubi within herself, it had been tradition to seal the Kyuubi within an Uzumaki kunoichi. Kushina was chosen because of her unique chakra that was suited towards containing the Kitsune."

The former Konoha-nin frowned as she voiced her earlier question. "But if Konoha had a previous jinchuuriki, why – how – did the Kyuubi attack happen? Shouldn't that have been impossible?"

Kaoru shrugged. "I'm as mystified as you are on that part. Somebody probably unsealed it while Kushina was weak. Maybe childbirth? That weakens jinchuuriki seals significantly. But if that's true…are you from Konoha originally?"

"Yes."

"Then you are most likely…"

"Most likely Kushina's daughter…" Akarui said in awe. She knew who her father was and she couldn't have been happier, but now that she knew her mother was most likely the previous jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, she felt as if her chest would burst open in happiness. To someone who had never known her parents, finding out that they were near-legendary people was the best thing possible. Tears of happiness were caught in her eyelashes and the salty water glimmered in the sunlight.

"Hekikuu-sensei…" Azami said anxiously as she tugged on Akarui's cloak.

The blonde looked down and gave her student a watery smile. "It's okay, Murasaki."

"So that's the little one's name, eh?" Kaoru said, eyeing Azami. "Or, more likely, her alias."

Akarui merely smirked in reply. "So will you help me with the Kokoro Tsunagari or not?"

The pale-haired shinobi thought for a few moments before replying, "Here's the deal. I'll give you half of the formula for the Kokoro Tsunagari. If you can figure out the other half in…let's say seven days, I'll accept that you have the potential to stop the wars of the shinobi. I'll join the Boshoku and travel with you."

_'This seriously reminds me of the time Tsunade-Obaa-chan made that bet with me over whether or not I could complete the Rasengan,' _Akarui thought. "Done," she agreed. "I'll do it."

Kaoru smirked as he pulled a blank scroll out of his sleeve. He lifted his right hand so that it was palm up before a simple storage seal appeared before disappearing again, leaving behind a brush and a bottle of ink. _'Storage seals written on his skin!' _Akarui realized. _'Why the hell haven't I thought of that before?' _

With a couple flourishes of the brush, Kaoru created a circle of kanji. "There will be a different number of parts depending on how many people you want the Kokoro Tsunagari to work with. Good luck. I'll meet you back here in a week, Hekikuu," the fuuinjutsu user said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Akarui snorted and shook her head. "C'mon Murasaki. Let's go back to the house."

The brunette nodded cheerfully and hopped after the jinchuuriki as the duo returned to Tazuna's house.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Seven days later, Akarui and Azami stood in the exact spot as they had been seven days previous. Seconds later, the blonde felt a small spike of chakra and looked up. When the smoke faded, Kaoru was revealed standing there with a large scroll similar to Akarui's slung over his back. "Did you do it?" he asked.

Akarui grinned triumphantly as she pulled out a black scroll and unrolled it, revealing a completed sealing array. A smirk touched Kaoru's face as he sighed. "Well, congratulations. I guess I have to hold up my end of the bargain, eh?" he said as he brought out his scroll and unfurled it to reveal several storage seals. The fuuinjutsu specialist placed his hand on the first one and unsealed a copy of Akarui's cloak except for the pure white lining.

The blonde grinned. "I guess that means your nickname is going to be Shiro, eh?"

"I like that!" chirped Azami. "Can I call you Shiro-chan now?"

Akarui placed a hand over her mouth in a failed attempt to stifle her laughter at Kaoru's disgruntled expression. "Oh, and Hekikuu," Kaoru said, clapping his hands together, "shouldn't you activate the seal?"

"Uh…yeah, I was just getting to that," Akarui said as she scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. The toad summoner crouched down and pulled the twelve metal necklaces out of her ninja pouch and put them at the edges of the seal. The kunoichi then tapped a chakra-covered finger at the center of the sealing array, activating the Kokoro Tsunagari. The kanji glowed a faint blue before they receded onto the ten necklaces. The only sign of the seal was the small line of kanji around the edge of the metal disks. Akarui focused chakra into her forefinger before she picked up one and engraved the character for 'Hekikuu' on it before doing the same for 'Shiro' and 'Murasaki'. The blonde handed them off to their respective owners and stood up, dusting herself off.

"Oh! That reminds me…" said Akarui as she pulled three other objects out of her pouch. This time, it was three of the hitai-ate she had commissioned from Hideaki. "Here," she said, holding the strips of cloth and metal out. Kaoru took one and tied it around his forehead, as did Azami. When they were done, Akarui did the same.

"Are you ready, Shiro, Murasaki? We're going to move out now," Akarui said.

"Where?" asked the former Uzushio ninja.

"Amegakure."


	5. The Rain Cloud

A/N: Hello my pretties! Sorry this whole thing is kind of long-winded, but I needed to let the people who haven't read all of canon what is happening right now. So far, this is just a retelling of canon, but there will be differences soon!

Boshoku Aliases

Hekikuu: Azure Sky, Akarui's codename

Murasaki: Purple, Azami's codename

Shiro: White, Kaoru's codename

Nouken: Dark Blue, Konan's codename

Glossary

Shinku: Crimson

Rokudaime: Sixth

Kenkaku no Kiri: Swordsman of the Mist

Rikudo Sennin: Sage of the Six Paths

Ero-Sennin: Perverted Sage

The Storm Cloud

It was midday, a two and a half weeks after Akarui had left Konoha when Temari's, or Shinku's, voice resounded throughout Akarui's mind over the Kokoro Tsunagari. _"Hekikuu!" _the wind mistress practically shouted.

The toad summoner frowned before pushing some chakra into her own necklace. _"What is it, Shinku?" _she asked.

_"Uchiha Sasuke has attacked the Kage Summit!"_

Akarui stopped moving and she felt the blood rush out of her face. When she had sent a clone to give Temari a necklace and Boshoku hitai-ate three days ago, Temari had told the clone that the Raikage had sent out a letter calling for a summit of all five Kages in the Iron Country because his younger brother, the Hachibi jinchuuriki, had been captured by the Akatsuki. The Raikage also said in the letter that Sasuke had joined up with Akatsuki and had been the one to kidnap his brother. Since Danzou had marked both Akarui and Sasuke as missing-nin when he was selected as the candidate Rokudaime, the Raikage had nothing stopping him from marking Sasuke as an international criminal, so he did so.

Beside Akarui, Kaoru tensed. _"Who's Uchiha Sasuke?" _he asked.

_"Hekikuu-sensei's genin teammate, a Konoha missing-nin, and the last of the Uchiha Clan," _Azami answered.

"_Shinku, tell us a little more about what happened the Kage Summit," _Akarui ordered.

_ "Well, since all of the jinchuuriki except for you have been captured and the Kage think you will soon fall to the Akatsuki, they have formed a Five-Village Alliance so that we have a chance of defeating the Akatsuki. It was kind of sudden; this white-skinned guy that looked part plant appeared out of nowhere and said that Sasuke was somewhere within the building. The Raikage was furious; that man has serious anger management issues. One of the Raikage's guards was a sensor type, so he left with both of his guards," _said Temari.

_"Just keep us updated. Do what Gaara tells you to do; he is your Kazekage after all. Don't die or I'll drag you back from the gates of Hell by your ear," _Akarui threatened.

Temari chuckled slightly at that. _"Got it," _the Suna-nin said before her presence on the Kokoro Tsunagari disappeared. Their conversation complete, Akarui returned her attention to the problem of getting into Amegakure.

"What to do, what to do…" she mumbled, scratching the back of her head.

Jiraiya had told her about Ame; he had said that nobody was allowed in without a serious background check and all outsiders were tracked during their stay.

Of course, Akarui wasn't planning on entering the normal way.

Surrounding Amegakure was a tall steel wall of about five feet in width. Ninja squads patrolled the top of the wall and moved through the area surrounding the village. Akarui activated her Sage Mode when her group had moved within the patrol area so she could sense and avoid any and all patrols coming their way.

To get through the barrier, Akarui molded some wind chakra into her hand before placing it on the wall and cutting a large hole in the steel with the elementally recomposed chakra. A slight smirk played across her face as she thought, _'Heh. That's pretty useful. Maybe I could use something similar in battle?' _Akarui shook her head at that thought. She had more important things to do then to make up another way to kill people. She had to find Konan first of all and then reconnect with the spy network that she had inherited from Jiraiya. The blonde sighed before slipping through the hole. Kaoru blinked once before following while Azami hopped through the wall behind him.

"What are we doing her anyways?" Kaoru asked once the trio was inside the wall and far enough away from it to not be caught. Akarui hefted the piece of steel back into place before heating up her chakra and melting the steel back together. Her hands were smoking slightly when she was done.

"A friend of mine lives here. Besides, there are some things you can only buy in a hidden village. I wasn't planning far enough ahead when I was in Suna. I need to restock my supply of senbon and buy a new set of shuriken, kunai, and senbon as well as a few holsters for Murasaki. I should probably get some medical supplies as well and maybe some shinobi wire. There's also the matter of getting something to cover the lower half of my face," Akarui explained as she tapped a finger to the whisker marks on her cheek, "and I have to do something with my hair. It's getting too long."

"So we're here to shop," Kaoru said flatly.

The former Konoha-nin shook her head. "You forgot the first part. My friend is the current leader of this village and a former member of Akatsuki."

Kaoru's eyes widened in shock as he said, "A former member of the Akatsuki? Are you insane?"

"I'm pretty sure we've been over this before; I'm not crazy. I did say _former _member," Akarui replied with a small grin and a playful tone.

The pale-haired shinobi snorted and shook his head. "I can't believe you. You _must _be insane," he chuckled.

Akarui just gave him a sly smirk in reply before her expression became serious again. "Come on. I don't want to stay in the rain all day, and I really need some ramen right about now."

Kaoru looked appalled when he said, "You eat _ramen_? Do you know how unhealthy that stuff is?"

The former Konoha-nin glared fiercely at her relative. "Ramen is the food of the gods! Don't you dare say otherwise!"

It was probably the murderous aura around Akarui that convinced the former Uzushio shinobi not to argue. Azami giggled and said cheerfully, "Sometimes I forget who the eight-year-old is around here."

Akarui glared half-heartedly at the younger kunoichi. "I resent that!" she grumbled before walking down the streets of Ame, looking for a ramen stand and a store that stole shinobi gear.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Eventually, Akarui had managed to get everything she had wanted including the ramen. The jinchuuriki had done her hair up in a bun with three senbon needles and had tied her hitai-ate around the scroll holster slung over her chest. To cover her whisker marks, she had bought a thin black scarf and pulled the edge of it up over her nose.

Temari had contacted them while they were shopping; apparently Sasuke was after Danzou for some reason or another. He had brought three people with him; a red-haired, sensor-type kunoichi, an orange-haired male with a powerful curse seal and a wannabe Kenkaku no Kiri who had stolen Zabuza's sword. Akarui was tempted to strangle the guy for desecrating the former Kiri-nin's grave.

A man who claimed to be Uchiha Madara, the co-founder of Konoha, had intervened when the Tsuchikage was about to kill Sasuke. He had revealed something he called the "Moon's Eye Plan". Madara planned to capture all of the Bijuu and combine them to create something that once was; the Juubi, or the Ten-Tails. Apparently, the Rikudo Sennin had become famous for sealing the Juubi within himself and saving the world from its wrath. At his death, he had used his abilities to split the Juubi into nine separate bodies that came to be known as the Bijuu. Madara wanted use the power of the Juubi to reflect a genjutsu off of the moon and on to every single person on the planet; it would be a genjutsu with the ability to control every living person. Madara had then demanded that the Kages hand over the Hachibi – apparently the Hachibi's jinchuuriki had tricked Sasuke. The Uchiha had then said that the Kyuubi would be captured eventually, and then the plan would be complete. The Kages had refused to give up the last jinchuuriki and Madara had declared the Fourth Great Shinobi World War.

The Five Great Hidden Villages had agreed to form an alliance and appointed the Raikage the leader. Danzou was deemed untrustworthy and Gaara had pretty much suggested that Kakashi become the Rokudaime Hokage. Akarui had chuckled at that; the Hatake would detest being put in such a position. Mifune, the leader of the Iron Country, had also joined the alliance; while they were not a shinobi nation, they did have samurai that could use chakra. The Raikage and his guards had left to find the Hachibi jinchuuriki while the rest of the Kages had left for their respective villages.

Unfortunately for Akarui, the Kages had also decided that the Kyuubi jinchuuriki could not be allowed to roam free. Gaara suggested sending team from Konoha to track Akarui down because she had originally been a Konoha kunoichi. That bit of information caused Akarui to grumble and slam her palm into her face; she really didn't need something else to worry about.

_ 'What should I do?' _the blonde asked herself. _'The peace for which I created Boshoku has already fallen apart. Should I directly involve myself in this war or use my spy network and the other members of the Boshoku to help the war effort? Damn it! Why did war have to break out now, of all times? The best course of action is probably in between avoiding the war and charging into it. The Boshoku will never be a large force, so the best thing I can do at the moment is use our abilities to help the shinobi alliance. I can't ignore the war because of the deaths I may be able to prevent. If worst comes to worst, I can reveal the Boshoku, but I would prefer not to since at least Temari and I would be under attack from the alliance.' _

Her decision made, she molded some chakra into her necklace and said, _"It would be pointless to avoid the war. The best thing we can do is to make sure that there are as few casualties as possible. Shinku, keep sending us updates. Murasaki, tell me if you see anything useful. Shiro, your role will change as this progresses, but you did say you were a medic-nin, right? It would be helpful if you could teach us some medical ninjutsu."_

_ "Sure," _Kaoru said, nodding. _"Before my village fell, I was famed as a medic-nin rivaling Tsunade of Konoha. The more people there are that know medical ninjutsu, the more lives that can be saved."_

_ "Tsunade?" _Azami asked, a bemused expression on her face.

_"The Slug Princess," _Akarui clarified, using Azami's name for the Godaime Hokage. _"Anyways, that's it for now I believe," _Akarui replied before retracting her chakra from her necklace. The blonde nodded once to her companions before the trio took off and raced through the buildings of Amegakure. _'Konan…where are you?' _she wondered. _'I guess Sage Mode is my best shot at finding her now.' _Akarui signaled for Kaoru and Azami to stop as she gathered natural energy. When she had entered Sage Mode, the toad summoner closed her eyes and expanded her senses over Amegakure.

The blonde's eyes almost snapped open immediately at the pure amount of chakra signatures in the area; there were so many it was almost overwhelming. Akarui gritted her teeth and searched for Konan's chakra; dark blue with the calmness of a still lake yet the sharpness of new shuriken. It took a minute or so to find the origami user's chakra. When she did, her eyes snapped open. "Found her," she murmured. "C'mon. I'll lead the way."

0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o0o

Three minutes later, Akarui stood in front of the tallest tower in Amegakure with her student and relative. Konan was near the top of the building; probably the second highest floor. Suddenly, Konan's chakra burst apart and separated into hundreds of different parts. Akarui's eyes widened in shock as she exclaimed, "What?"

"What is it?" Kaoru asked, frowning.

"It's nothing…" Akarui replied as she narrowed her eyes. _'This must be that technique Katsuya told me about; the one where she can split herself up into hundreds of different sheets of paper which she can use her paper-based techniques with,' _the blonde realized. "I was just surprised."

The white-haired man blinked once but seemed to accept her answer as he nodded slightly. "So, where's this friend of yours anyway? She must be something special to have convinced you to trust her."

Akarui opened her mouth to reply, but closed it and smirked when she saw a cloud of paper flying towards the three of them. "Here she comes," the jinchuuriki murmured. Quickly, the sheets of paper clumped together as they began to form into a human body and gain color. A few seconds later, a blue-haired woman with an origami flower of a slightly lighter shade of the same color wearing an Akatsuki cloak stood in front of them.

"Akarui," she greeted, inclining her head.

"It's nice to see you again, Konan," the Uzumaki replied, grinning brightly.

_"Akarui?" _Kaoru asked over the Kokoro Tsunagari.

_"It's my real name," _the jinchuuriki replied.

Azami tilted her head to the side and observed the Ame-nin. "You're the Paper Angel of the South!" the brunette said, pointing at Konan.

The origami user turned to look at Akarui, asking the silent question of "What?"

"Murasaki here can see things others cannot; the past, present…even the future," Akarui replied. "However, she cannot hear anything in her visions, so she makes up names for the people she sees."

Konan's eyes widened ever-so-slightly and she nodded thoughtfully. "That is a useful ability. I can see why you brought her with you."

Akarui smiled in reply before her expression turned serious. "Why are you still wearing that cloak? I thought you were done with the Akatsuki," she asked.

Konan's eyes were tinted with sad memories as she replied, "This cloak was designed by Yahiko for the original Akatsuki, which consisted of rebels fighting for the freedom of Amegakure. The red clouds represent the blood shed by the wars that tore this country apart. Yahiko created the Akatsuki. He did not mean for it to become what it did."

"I see…" Akarui murmured. _'How should I bring this conversation to where I need it to be? Ah well, when in doubt, be direct.' _"I actually came here for two reasons; one, to give you an invitation to the organization I am creating, the Boshoku. The second was to warn you that war is on the way and Amegakure may not be able to avoid it."

The former Akatsuki member looked shocked. "War?" she repeated softly.

Akarui inclined her head. "Yes. Uchiha Madara has declared the Fourth Great Shinobi World War upon the Five Great Nations who have united their forces in an alliance. With such monstrous powers on both sides there is no doubt that the smaller counties will eventually become involved in this. A storm is on the way; a storm one person alone cannot stop. Blood will be shed, lives lost, and hatred sowed. But I will do everything I can to help the people who are innocent in this; the civilians, the smaller countries, and even the Five Great Nations; they were only dragged into this because of one man's lust for power. I swear to you, Konan, that this will not stop me from fulfilling Nagato and Jiraiya-sensei's dream. My dream. The Boshoku is the materialization of my dream, just like the Akatsuki was Yahiko's. We will help the people the greater powers overlook, because every life is worth something," she promised.

A smile ghosted over Konan's face. "I knew I was right to trust you," the blue-haired kunoichi said. "I will help you in any way I can, but I have a country to care for. I cannot be with you at all times."

Akarui smiled at that. "I have the perfect thing!" she said cheerfully as she pulled out another of the necklaces with the Kokoro Tsunagari. "This necklace has a seal on it that allows people with the matching necklaces to hear what you are thinking when you mold chakra into the pendant."

"The Kokoro Tsunagari…" Konan mumbled before taking the necklace and slipping it around her neck.

"Oh, and one other thing," Akarui said, "All of the people in Boshoku are using codenames based off of the color of our cloaks to lower the chance of any of us getting caught and/or captured, especially since one of the members is a Suna jounin that would be executed immediately for treason. I go by Hekikuu while the child goes by Murasaki and he," the blonde said as she pointed at Kaoru, "is Shiro. Our agent in Suna is Shinku."

"Understood," Konan replied. "Feel free to stay here as long as you would like. I will tell my shinobi that you are welcome here. Those gray cloaks and hitai-ate are your trademarks, similar to the Akatsuki's cloaks and rings, correct?"

Akarui nodded. "Yeah. That's kind of where I got the idea from. Uniforms let people know that there are more people where you came from, right? And as a side note, we've been taking on nicknames depending on the color of the cloaks," the former Konoha-nin said.

The blue-haired kunoichi's small smile widened. "Alright. I'll go by Nouken then, and I will let my people know that anybody wearing cloaks and hitai-ate matching yours is welcome in the village."

"Thanks Konan," Akarui replied. "I don't know how long we will stay, but I will let you know when we move on again."

"It is the least that I could do after what you did for Nagato,"

Akarui smiled gently as she finished her conversation with Konan and turned to return to the main section of Ame, Kaoru and Azami following her.

While the trio searched for a place to spend the next few days, Kaoru demanded that Akarui tell him exactly how she knew Konan and who Yahiko and Nagato were. The blonde jinchuuriki had seen no point in hiding it from him and had told him the whole story, including the fact that she was the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, Azami piping up and filling in whatever Akarui didn't know. It wasn't as if he wouldn't have found eventually, and Akarui figured the sooner he knew, the better. Surprisingly, he wasn't all that shocked. When Akarui asked him why he wasn't surprised, he pointed to her large chakra reserves and endless stamina and said that Uzumaki Kushina and Mito had had the same characteristics. She had accepted that with a simple shrug because it made sense.

Eventually the trio found a decent place with reasonable rent that they decided to stay. It turned out that Kaoru was a real penny-pincher, even worse than Akarui who sometimes went without a non-ramen meal for days to make sure she would be able to pay the rent and all the bills. After all, even if she had done several high-ranking missions, there was nobody to lend her money if she needed it, so she tended to stay on the safe side when it came to her bank account.

Jiraiya's habits of spending money like it was nothing had really pissed her off until she had seen the size of his bank account. It was huge – the man had billions of ryo at his disposal. However, it made her furious when the perverted old lecher took her money to pay for things when he was filthy rich. Over her three-year training trip, they had struck up the deal; Akarui would stop calling him Ero-Sennin and stop nagging him about his habits and he would stop stealing her money, teach her sealing techniques, and train her to be a spymaster like himself. It had worked well and she had learned a lot under his tutelage. He had been teaching her things up until his death.

Akarui shook her head as if the simple action would drive away those unpleasant thoughts. "Are you okay?" Kaoru asked quietly.

The blonde looked up in surprise. "Am I really that easy to read?" she asked. When the jinchuuriki saw the man's smirk she added, "Don't answer that. But yeah, I'm fine."

The pale-haired shook his head and snorted. "Come on. I've already paid for the rooms," he said. "Murasaki is already up there."

"What room are we?" asked Akarui.

"301," Kaoru answered as the pair walked up the first flight of stairs.

Their room was on the third floor. It had three rooms; two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a common area which had a couch, a chair, and a kitchenette in it. Akarui and Azami shared one bedroom while Kaoru took the other. After they had settled in, Akarui unsealed some food and set about making lunch while Azami napped and Kaoru took a shower.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0ot

Later that night, Akarui taught Azami tree-climbing before Kaoru gave the blonde another chakra control exercise: kunai twirling. To complete the exercise, you had to encase a kunai in chakra to hold up in the air and at the same time twirl the chakra to spin the blade. After the first half an hour, Akarui went outside to find a training ground. When she did, the blonde immediately formed twenty-odd shadow clones and sent them all to work on the exercise. Two hours later, the blonde had completed the exercise and returned to the inn.

Kaoru raised a single snow-white brow when Akarui entered the room looking sweaty and tired. "What ran you over?" the man asked sarcastically.

The jinchuuriki rewarded him with a blank stare. "I went out and used shadow clones to learn the exercise faster," she replied. "Nothing ran me over."

"So you finished it?"

"Yeah."

"Well then, there's one more control exercise you need to finish before we start on the actual chakra part of medical ninjutsu. It's called senbon twirling; it's pretty much the same thing as kunai twirling except you have to be more exact since the senbon is a lighter object. If you use a shadow clone, I can work with you on the basics of anatomy and such while it is working on the exercise."

Akarui nodded and created another shadow clone. "Go work on the senbon twirling exercise and creating a few clones to help. Dispel yourself when you're done," she ordered.

"Got it!" the clone chirped with a mock salute before disappearing out the window of their hotel room.

Kaoru pulled the scroll off of his back and unfurled it before unsealing a hefty book. He chuckled darkly at Akarui's apprehensive expression. "This is only the basics. If you don't think you can do this, just tell me now and I'll stop teaching you."

Akarui glared fiercely at Kaoru. "I won't give up, you old geezer!" she snarled as she snatched the book from the former Uzushio-nin's hands and opened it to the first page. "Just you watch!"

Kaoru chuckled and Azami fell off the wall again. Akarui grimaced as she began to read and thought, _'This is going to take a loooong time.' _

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Halfway across Amegakure, the air twisted and spiraled as an orange-masked man wearing an Akatsuki cloak rippled into existence.

The room the man appeared in was deep underground. It was empty except for a box-like structure of white marble filled with white paper roses. Two bodies rested upon the field of flowers; a white-haired man whose open eyes revealed the Rinnegan, and another, younger man with spiky orange hair and black piercings.

"You exerted yourself so much that your trademark red Uzumaki hair turned white, Nagato. What did you see in Uzumaki Akarui? She is merely another shinobi that will eventually fall to me," the man murmured as he stepped forward. "You were foolish to put your faith in her. Even if she is unusually strong for her age, her abilities pale next to mine."

A harsh blue aura surrounded the man's hand as he placed his hand over the white –haired corpse's eyes, closing them. "I think it is time you returned the Rinnegan to me. It was, after all, originally mine."


	6. The Hunters and First Movements

A/N: Yay! NnKR now has 27 reviews. The first part of this chapter takes place at around the same time as the last one, but the Boshoku part takes place directly afterwards. And people, this is an AU. That means there's stuff in it that didn't happen in canon. And OMG, NarutoBase has a NaruHina wallpaper for the new year! *stares*

ElwynWanderer: Thanks for betaing, and your edits are always welcomed.

femaleJoey: YES! You got it right! People, this story will eventually be a KakaNaru fic, but that is something like three or four years later in the story, so don't let the pairing scare you if you don't like it. I figured that Madara could just follow Konan and figure out where Nagato's corpse is, and he has his reasons for keeping her alive. Thank you for your insightful review!

Prescripto13: Yes, yes they do. A special thanks to you for reviewing all of my chapters!

Aoba Albatross: Sorry you don't like the name Akarui. To be fair, I don't use common female Naruto names very often.

KikiUchi: Thanks! Akarui told Kenji what her name was when they first met.

Random.d0.0b: There's a couple of fight scenes in the next chapter, I promise!

Piffsheep: Thanks

Boshoku Aliases

Hekikuu – Azure Sky, Akarui's alias

Murasaki – Purple, Azami's alias

Shinku – Crimson, Temari's alias

Shiro – White, Kaoru's alias

Noukon – Dark Blue, Konan's alias

Glossary

Shishou – Master

Hai - Yes/Yes sir

Sempai – a title referring to somebody who is senior to you in some way.

Kekkai Genkai – Bloodline Limit

Nidaime - Second

The Hunters and First Movements

Kakashi was leaning against one of the reconstructed buildings within Konoha. He looked up from his Icha Icha book when he saw a flash of pink out of his peripheral vision. "Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura called. "Tsunade-shishou has woken up!" The medic kunoichi was breathing hard, but a wide smile stretched across her face, showing her happiness.

Kakashi blinked once and let out a relieved sigh. "That's good. After Sasuke killed Danzou I was next in line for Hokage, but Tsunade's presence is a lot more effective than mine, especially in a war. I'm not suited for that kind of authority anyway," he explained.

"Fair enough, but there are lots of other people I have to tell!" Sakura shouted before running off again. Kakashi gave her one of his famous eye-smiles before she exited his line of vision.

Kakashi began to read his Icha Icha again, but before he could really get into it a male ANBU with a black boar mask landed behind him. "Kakashi-san?" the ANBU murmured quietly. "You are needed in the Hokage's office."

Kakashi nodded once and the ANBU disappeared in a swirl of leaves. The Hatake's single visible eye narrowed slight as he thought, _'What could it possibly be now?' _before he leapt up and raced across the reconstructed rooftops towards Tsunade's office.

Three minutes later, he stood dutifully in front of his Hokage as he watched a rather amusing conversation between the Godaime and Shizune.

"Why don't you take a break, Tsunade-sama? There's no more food left here," Shizune said, eyeing the empty bowls that covered Tsunade's desk.

Tsunade glowered at her apprentice and snapped, "Keep it coming! I have to replenish my chakra reserves or my genjutsu will fall and I'll be an old hag again!"

"Tsunade-sama, there really is no more food!"

The Hokage glanced around before her eyes landed on TonTon, who was being held in Shizune's arms. Seeing her mentors gaze, Shizune backed away from Tsunade. "Get a hold of yourself, Tsunade-sama! You can't eat TonTon!" she shrieked.

"Ahem…Tsunade-sama, was there a reason I was called here? Amusing as it is to watch you and Shizune-san argue, I do believe we have more important things to worry about, like war and Uchiha Madara," said Kakashi, who was eye-smiling.

Tsunade blinked once and recomposed herself. "Right. As you might heard, both Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Akarui have been marked as missing-nin. Madara said himself that Akarui was not captured, but left Konoha of her own free will. And since his goal is to capture all of the Bijuu and merge them together to form the Juubi, we cannot let him have the Hachibi. The Hachibi jinchuuriki, Kirabi, was found after the Summit of the Kage fighting Hoshigaki Kisame, who was killed. Kirabi has been confined to an island which will be protected at all times by some of the Alliance's best shinobi, so he is in good hands. However, Madara also said that he had the ability to send the Bijuu out into battle. This is bad enough, seeing as how he has seven Bijuu, but since Akarui is out there with no protection at all, she could be captured and have the Kyuubi extracted from her pretty much whenever," the Godaime Hokage said. Her emotions were carefully masked, but Kakashi's trained eye could tell that Tsunade did not like what she had to say. "Whatever happens, we cannot allow the Akatsuki to have the Kyuubi. You will form a team of chuunin and jounin who will find Uzumaki Akarui and capture her. If she resists, they are to kill her."

Kakashi winced at that, but replied, "Hai, Tsunade-sama. I assume I will be captain of this team?"

"No."

The Hatake looked up at that, confused. "What?"

"We are in the middle of a war, Kakashi. Your talents are needed on the front lines. You are to assemble a team with the greatest likelihood of capturing Akarui and choose a captain. Besides that, my only requests are that you don't take Sakura or Ino; we will need as many medical shinobi as possible. The same goes for Inoichi and Shikaku; they are both needed on the warfront."

"Understood," Kakashi murmured, nodding submissively. _' #!*% it. That's another student that has to be hunted down. Why did you do it, Akarui? I don't understand...'_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Three hours after Kakashi's meeting with the Hokage, he stood in front of Yamato, Sai, Shikamaru, Kiba, Shino, Gai, TenTen, Anko, and Neji. They were all wearing looks of confusion to various degrees.

"Why are we here, Kakashi-sempai?" asked Yamato.

"Yes, tell us what you need us for, my youthful rival!" Gai exclaimed in his usual ear-shattering tone.

Kakashi winced and rubbed his ear to try and send some of the feeling back into it. "Not so loud, Gai."

"Oooh! What a hip response!"

The Hatake's mouth twisted in to a grimace underneath his mask. "Tsunade-sama ordered me to create a team that would have the best chance of tracking down Uzumaki Akarui and surviving," he said in a toneless voice that masked his personal feelings on the issue. "You are to capture her alive, or, if that is not possible, kill her. Failure is not an option; we cannot allow the Akatsuki to capture the Bijuu. Yamato, you are in charge. Shikamaru, you are second-in-command. I will not be going with you because I am needed on the front lines. You are to leave in three hours. Sai, Tsunade-sama will expect daily reports on the team's progress from you."

Shikamaru sighed heavily, probably remembering the failed Sasuke retrieval mission that he had led three years ago. Kiba winced slightly when the order to kill Akarui was mentioned. Shino and Sai were emotionless as always. Neji, Gai, Yamato and Anko looked sad while and TenTen seemed as if she wasn't sure what she should be feeling.

"You heard him. Meet me at the front gates in three hours," Yamato ordered after a moment of silence. All of the present shinobi except for Kakashi and Yamato nodded once and blurred away. The Mokuton wielder spared Kakashi a glance before disappearing as well.

The silver-haired jounin closed his one eye before resuming his reading and walked away. If one cared to look, they would be able to tell that his grip was noticeably tighter than normal. _'Just bring her home guys. Bring her home.' _

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Temari stood just outside the walls of Suna. Gaara stood a little ways in front of her, facing the thousands of Suna shinobi that were going to fight in the first part of the war. Gaara took a deep brath and addressed his people. "Shinobi of Suna! Today, we march off to war alongside the other nations to preserve our way of life. We will fight for everything dear to us and it is doubtless that many will lose their lives, but they will be remembered as what they truly are – heroes who sacrificed their lives for their beliefs! We cannot let the sacrifices of our forefathers go to waste! We cannot allow the Akatsuki to win this! All of those who are willing come with me!"

There was a unanimous roar of agreement from the crowd and many shouts of "Kazekage-sama!"

"Let's go!"

A soft smile touched Temari's face as she thought, _'You've changed their opinions of you, Gaara. They accept you now. But in the future, there will be no need for jinchuuriki,' _here her eyes hardened. _'Because there_ will_ be peace if the Boshoku has anything to say about it. And we do have something to say.' _

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Later that night, when everybody else was setting up camp, Gaara pulled Temari aside. Temari noted that her Kazekage seemed unusually tense and asked, "Gaara, what's wrong?" Concern colored her voice.

"That necklace you're wearing reeks of Akarui's chakra. Uzumaki is a missing-nin now, Temari. You know this. When and why did you come into contact with her?" Gaara asked, his voice steely and impersonal.

"Gaara…" Temari murmured as she clutched her necklace with a single hand.

"No excuses, Temari. We are about to launch ourselves into war; I cannot –_we _cannot – win if we have traitors within our midst."

"Gaara, do you know the true reason behind Akarui's defection?"

The Kazekage's head snapped up and his sea foam-green eyes met Temari's dark emerald. A frown touched his face.

"I'll tell you, if you want. Why she defected and why I came into contact with her."

Gaara's eyes narrowed and Temari began to weave the same tale Akarui had told her.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

_"YOU DID WHAT?" _Akarui roared over the Kokoro Tsunagari. _"What the #!*% do you mean you told Gaara about the Boshoku?"_

_"I didn't have much of a choice," _Temari snapped back crossly._ "He could sense your chakra on the necklace, Hekikuu; there was no way I could get out of it."_

_"There must have been some way around it, Shinku," _Kaoru said. The disapproval in his voice was practically palpable. _"From what I've gathered, you're a Suna jounin. You should have been able to come up with a convincing lie."_

_"He's my brother, Shiro! I can't on good conscience _lie _to him!" _Temari snarled.

Akarui sighed and rubbed her temples gently with her hands in a futile attempt to ward off the oncoming headache. _"Break it up guys. What's done is done. Just contact the rest of us before you do something like this, okay Shinku?"_

_"…Fine," _Temari said.

_"Y'know, I think it's kind of pointless for us to use these codenames over the Kokoro Tsunagari," _Azami piped up. _"It's not like anybody can hear us, right?"_

_"Actually, that's not true," _Akarui said. _"What if somebody managed to steal one of our necklaces? Then they could easily hear what we're talking about."_

_"That's pretty unlikely, and the pipsqueak has a point," _Temari mused.

_"H-hey! That's mean!" _Azami pouted.

_"All's fair in blood and war," _Temari responded cheekily.

_"I would agree with Murasaki," _Konan said. _"Besides, if we knew each other's names it would promote a sense of trust within the Boshoku."_

Akarui sighed. _"Alright, fine. But when we're talking to each other out loud and not over the Kokoro Tsunagari, we'll use the codenames, got it?"_

_"Agreed," _Konan replied immediately. _"I'm Konan."_

_"Alright," _assented Temari. _"My real name is Temari."_

_"Fine," _Kaoru answered. _"Uzumaki Kaoru."_

_"Okay!" _chirped Azami. _"I'm Azami!"_

Akarui let out a small chuckle and said, _"Namikaze Akarui."_

Akarui nearly burst out laughing when she heard Temari choking on air. _"WHAT? NAMIKAZE? AS IN NAMIKAZE MINATO?"_

That time, Akarui did laugh. _"Yup. It turns out he was my father," _the blonde explained.

_"…I guess that would explain your hair and eyes," _muttered Temari. _"Now that I think about it, you kind of do look like a miniature female version of him. You didn't inherit his height though, 'cause you're still short."_

Even though Temari couldn't see it, Akarui's eyebrow twitched dangerously. _"Shut up!" _she snapped. _"I'm not short, I'm fun-sized!"_

The Suna jounin let out a creepy witch-like cackle that was filled with mirth. _"Sure, sure, whatever you say…shrimp."_

_" #!*% you, Temari!"_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Two days after Kaoru, Azami, and Akarui's arrival at Amegakure the trio sat in the middle of a training ground that had a river running through it. Azami practiced her water-walking while Kaoru coached Akarui in her medical ninjutsu through the use of an injured fish, although the blonde was making a lot of progress. Finally, Akarui threw her hands up in the air and let out a frustrated sigh. "This is so annoying! Normally I would at least have some understanding of the technique by now!" she ranted to the heavens.

Kaoru looked up from the book is nose had been buried in previously and stared blandly at Akarui. "Did you expect this to be easy? Medical ninjutsu is a hard subject. You won't get anywhere if you just give up."

Akarui glared nastily at the former Uzushio ninja. "Shut it you old geezer!" she snarled before going back to work on her fish.

A smirk danced across Kaoru's lips as he began to read again. _'She's got spirit, that's for sure. And despite her thoughts on the matter, she is progressing rapidly. Akarui has the perfect personality for a medic-nin; she's determined, compassionate unless you're her enemy, and a lot smarter than you would think at first glance.'_

Just then, Konan's voice echoed through Kaoru's mind over the Kokoro Tsunagari. There was a surprising amount of panic in her usually calm voice. _"Kaoru, Akarui, Azami! Something bad has happened!"_

Akarui immediately flew into a standing position, abandoning her fish. _"Konan, what is it?"_

Kaoru marveled at how easily Akarui had become adjusted. She had just left Konoha two and a half weeks ago and was now the head of a newly-formed organization in the midst of a war. Akarui was a natural leader, especially in a potentially nasty situation like this one. Whenever the situation called for it, she could shift from playful to serious in a split second.

_"I went to pay my respects to Nagato and Yahiko, but Nagato…!" _she paused for a moment as if collecting her thoughts,_ "Somebody stole one of his Rinnegan eyes!" _Konan explained.

The book Kaoru was holding slipped out of his grasp and fell to the ground. _"Nagato? You mean the person Akarui fought with just before she left Konoha?"_

_"Yeah, the same," _Akarui confirmed. _"Any ideas on who it could be? They'd have to be incredibly stealthy to get past the defenses you put up."_

Konan let out a small sigh and replied, _"I had paper cranes flying around the only entrance yet I got no notice from them. The only person capable of a time-space technique like that is…" _

_"Uchiha Madara," _Akarui grit out, finishing Konan's train of thought.

_"Yes,"_ Konan murmured.

_"So not only does our enemy have two of the infamous Mangekyou Sharingan in the form of Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Madara, they now have the abilities of the Rinnegan. I don't think #!*% quite sums up the gravity of the situation," _Kaoru grumbled.

_"We can't keep waiting for the enemy to make a move," _Azami observed. _"But Sensei, what are we going to do exactly?"_

Akarui thought for a few moments before she said,l_"I'm going to reconnect with Jiraiya-sensei's spy network. Konan, you're going to need to prepare your village for war. I suggest that you get rid of the isolationistic policy so that your nation is open to help if you need it." _

_"Understood," _Konan said.

_"Temari, are you on?" _Akarui asked.

_"Yeah, I'm here," _was the quick, serious reply.

_"Any new info?" _

_"It would seem that Kabuto has joined up with Madara. He's using a giant Edo Tensei, a jutsu that resurrects dead shinobi, and has already resurrected several famous shinobi. So far, we've only encountered Deidara and Kisame when they attacked the Turtle Island – that's where they're keeping the Hachibi jinchuuriki. They were fought off though, so don't worry. The Hachibi jinchuuriki is fine,"_

_"So, this Edo Tensei…how do you stop it?" _

_"You can't just kill them; the bodies will regenerate. You either have to completely immobilize the body or pull out the soul that is trapped. Tobirama Senju, the creator of the technique and the Nidaime Hokage left his notes on the technique behind in Konoha. It would seem that you need to bind the dead soul to a living body. After this is done, ashes and dust give the body the soul's original appearance. The chakra system is rearranged to match the soul's original one, and this includes the level of chakra reserves, elemental affinities, and kekkai genkai_. _And what's even worse is that there's no drawback for the user! It doesn't even take that much chakra. However, DNA from the soul's body is needed, so, take Jiraiya for example – his body is down at the bottom of the ocean, so at least we won't have to fight him."_

_"But that pretty much means he's been _violating _the graves of powerful shinobi!" _Akarui snarled, obviously disgusted. _"That #!*% !"_

_"Yeah well, we're shinobi. Oh, and Danzou's dead."_

_"Eh?"_

_"Yeah. His corpse was found on a bridge a little ways away from the Summit. Judging from the chakra, he was probably fighting Sasuke. There was also a third person there, but she escaped."_

_"Well, that makes things a little easier. Personally, having Danzou in a position like Hokage made me a little worried. Who's the new Hokage, by the way?"_

_"Well, it was originally going to be Kakashi, but Tsunade woke up from her coma, so she's Hokage now."_

_"How are the Alliance's preparations for war going?"_

_"Pretty well. It's been decided that there will be four main divisions; the mid-range division, Division 1, headed by a Kumo shinobi named Darui. He was one of the Raikage's guards at the Summit. Then there's the close-range division, Division 2, headed by Kitsuchi, an Iwa-nin. Division 3 consists of both mid- and short-range fighters. Kakashi is acting as the general. Then there's Division 4, which is the long-range division. Gaara is leading that one, but he also serves as the Commander of the entire army. Shikamaru is the proxy commander, but he's essentially in charge of the whole division since Gaara is going to be really busy once things start to heat up. And there's the Fifth Division for people with unique abilities. They're mostly a spying and tracking division, judging from who is being assigned to it now. Mifune, the leader of the Iron Country's military, is heading the Fifth Division. Then there's the Medical Logistics Squad, headed by…I think Shizune, Tsunade's assistant. It is compromised of experienced field medics. The Sensor Squad obviously has most of the sensors in it; it's led by Ao of Kiri. There's also the Intelligence Squad, which is in charge of collecting information on the Akatsuki, which is headed by Inoichi of Konoha. Then there's the Ambush Squad, which will be moving out soon. It's headed by Kankurou. Who's going to be in what division is still being sorted out, but the Alliance should be ready to march out in two weeks or so," _Temari rambled.

_"Thanks. Keep us alerted to the Alliance's movements. We want to be able to help them, but we can't really afford to become directly involved in battle yet. Kaoru, do you know of any seals that could be used to get rid of the souls trapped by the Edo Tensei?" _asked Akarui.

_"Not off the top of my head, but I should be able to create something," _Kaoru replied immediately.

Akarui let out a heavy sigh. _"This sucks. I created this organization to create peace, and here I am sending us off into battle."_

_"At least the people we're fighting are technically already dead, so you don't have to feel too bad about getting rid of them," _Temari pointed out.

_"Fair enough, but still…" _Akarui muttered. _"I was planning on learning medical ninjutsu for a while before entering the political field, and now I have to start training to kill. Again. I guess it's like you said; we're shinobi, and that's kind of inescapable, unfortunately. I guess I never really had much of a choice though, since Madara would have come after me eventually no matter what."_

_"Yeah, I guess so," _Temari murmured. _"Well, we'll do the best we can and that's that." _

_"Yup! Nothing good can be born of fear,"_ Azami said.

_"Alright, Azami, Kaoru, we're moving out tomorrow morning for the Iron Country. Jiraiya-sensei's most trusted spy lives there," _Akarui said.

Temari asked, _"In the Iron Country? Didn't the Shinobi Nations agree not to interfere there?" _

_"…Technically. But since when have treaties ever been worth anything other then the paper they're written on?"_


End file.
